Member-only story
Death
Would You Rather Die From a Sudden Accident or a Long Illness?
We don’t normally get to choose, of course
In a world of inequality, we all share the same eventual fate.
My grandfather had a good death.
He was sitting in the living room with Grandma one evening, and he knew it was time. My grandmother reassured him that he’d come through other bad spells.
“Well, I’m not going to come through this one,” I’m told he said.
“We had a lot of good years, didn’t we,” she quietly answered. It was a statement, not a question.
I don’t know how long it took or how they passed the time. Did they hold hands? Talk about their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Pray? Did they kiss goodbye?
How would you spend your last moments with your spouse of 53 years?
My mother had a horrifying death.
She died of lung cancer that had metastasized to her bones and brain. Each time we had to turn her body, she moaned from the agony of her broken bones shifting.
It was the only sound she made, as she’d stopped talking or responding to anything after her brain tumor advanced.
