I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says: *There, she is gone!*
*Gone where?*
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says: *There, she is gone!* there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
*Here she comes!*
And that is dying.+
Henry Van Dyke
Then someone at my side says: *There, she is gone!*
*Gone where?*
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says: *There, she is gone!* there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout:
*Here she comes!*
And that is dying.+
Henry Van Dyke
My Daddy passed away peacefully this morning at 5:55. He had my mother, myself, Linda, Bill, Elliott, Taylor, Mildred and Larry there with him when he went. We all had our hands on him. He was so eager to go he had tried to get out of his bed. He said over and over again, "I have to go, I have to go."
He died in the bed he shared with my mother for nearly 55 years, with a look of wonder on his face and surrounded by enormous love. He is now standing on a distant shore surrounded by loved ones, in a place of healing and happiness. Being with him when he passed was the most painful thing we have ever been through but, at the same time, the most amazing and precious. He welcomed Linda and I into the world with love and I'm so thankful that we were able to return the love on his way out of this world.
He is now enroute to Enterprise where he will be at Patterson's Funeral Home. There will be a viewing tomorrow night with a graveside service at 10:00 Tuesday morning. Afterward family and friends are welcome to join us at the Banquet Room of the Holiday Inn Express.
Thank you all for you kind words, thoughts and especially your prayers during this difficult time.
He died in the bed he shared with my mother for nearly 55 years, with a look of wonder on his face and surrounded by enormous love. He is now standing on a distant shore surrounded by loved ones, in a place of healing and happiness. Being with him when he passed was the most painful thing we have ever been through but, at the same time, the most amazing and precious. He welcomed Linda and I into the world with love and I'm so thankful that we were able to return the love on his way out of this world.
He is now enroute to Enterprise where he will be at Patterson's Funeral Home. There will be a viewing tomorrow night with a graveside service at 10:00 Tuesday morning. Afterward family and friends are welcome to join us at the Banquet Room of the Holiday Inn Express.
Thank you all for you kind words, thoughts and especially your prayers during this difficult time.
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