As my grandfather prepares to leave this world and my daughter prepares to enter it, I’ve been thinking a lot about these two bookends of life. The entrance and the exit.
Many lives are cut down mid-stride, and that kind of exit I’m not prepared to think about. But the gradual, end-of-life exit that the eldest experience… this particular experience bears a resemblance to pregnancy and birth.
My grandfather is nearly ready to leave, but not quite yet. He could leave now, and it would not feel “too early” because we all want his pain to end. And no matter how ready he is, and no matter how peaceful his actual exit will be, there is a certain threshold of pain to pass through.
Just like it’s painful to enter this world, it’s painful to exit.
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