In the end, you're lucky if you die

I can regularily feel the baby kick now. Last night Sarah was lying on the couch reading and called me over. I watched as her stomach poked out as the kicking happened. It was bizarre to see, and reminded me almost of Aliens. (The movie) Except in her stomach.

It was cool.

Well, my sister Georga is married. It was great, except my cousin Megan was staying with us, and sunday night we stayed out with my other brothers until almost four in the morning. By the time I went to bed, I had about an hour to sleep before I had to wake up to work a 10 hour shift. That was hard enough, but coupled with the rest of the lack of sleep over the weekend, and the fact that my mom called me to tell me my Grandmother probably wasn't going to make it the night, it was a rough day.

So I told her that after work I would get something to eat with Sarah then we would head out there. Well, just before we left, my brother called to tell me she had died. Enter one of the best passing away stories ever.

My grandmother has had alzhimers (Or... something. Spelling that word gave me issues.) For many years now she has been getting worse and worse until, the last time I saw her, she couldn't even sit up without someone helping her. She could not talk, could not eat solid foods, etc. She was just slumped over on the couch twitching my whole visit. So when my siblings were over there with my mom, she was lying down, sleeping, taking short, rapid ragged breaths. (My brother Daniel called it a death rattle.) She was drooling, with her tongue hanging out a little. Shaking, and not doing very well. My mom went out to call her brother Mark, and my sister Brigid, still inside, suggested that they sing to her. So they started with Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, which was one of her favorite songs when she was younger. The way they describe it, as soon as they started singing, IMMEDIATLY she calmed down, started taking deeper, more relaxed breaths. Her face relaxed, and she slept peacefully. When they got to the last verse of Amazing Grace, she took her last breath.

The story still makes me cry.