By Friday, September 5, 2014 Linda was fairly unresponsive though I think she knew I was there.  I brought in a CD player and all day it played music with bird calls. I also brought in a pine branch and held it up to her nose so she could smell the aroma, and perhaps remember her love of trees.  I also brought in feathers from Birdles, her bird who died a year earlier almost to the date.  I showed her the feathers and stroked her face with the feathers.  I then placed one of the wing feathers in each of her hands, where they remained through the day.  She kept them there, as if her spirit was flying with the birds and this world she loved so much.

I spoke to her all throughout the day and sang.  Meredith came in the late afternoon, and one last time, we ate in front of her (she had been so nauseous the last months that it was hard for her to eat with us). But she would join us at the table. And so we chatted with her as we dined, the last supper.  Soon her breathing began to still, so we gathered her in our arms and wished her goodbye.

We staid with her for a few hours, chatting, singing, and praying, and also making arrangements.  We then washed her body all over, and then combed her hair and placed a feather there.  

She gave the gift of her eyes for cornea transplants after we left.  I hope that wherever they go, they can see the beauty that she did.

Her beauty lives on.