The last few years have been spiritually rough...as rough as anything in my life which was never a bed of roses. I have lost my mother, my aunt, my cousin, my grandmother, several friends, and several co-workers. I work in the emergency room. I am used to seeing people die both traumatically and because it is their time. Seeing this often does not make it easier, it makes me harder. It desensitizes me sometimes, or maybe I have just bricked a wall around me so that it doesn't hurt so bad. I have watched people die alone which is my utmost fear in life....not death itself, but that there would be no one there in my final moments to say goodbye. We are not born alone, we should not die alone.
This week we lost a wonderful man at work, Jack Perkins, who was an installation at Corning Hospital. He made people laugh and always had a smile for everyone with a devilish look in his eye. He gave me the impression of man always up to something, but in a good way. Jack was part of many of my co-workers families. They loved him like a brother, a father, an uncle. My crew at work (not me personally) spent hours working to save his life. They endured what I am told is one of the most horrific things each of them had ever seen in their lives and they held it together with professionalism and love. In the end when it is your time, it is your time, but Jack was not alone and I am thankful for that.
Tonight I take my daughter with me to stand next to my second family and the community to say goodbye to Jack Perkins. Our lives will be a little less bright without him and our hearts a little emptier than before. Fly high Jack. We'll miss you.
Aleathia this is absolutely beautiful and so very true. Jack died with people around him who loved him. He will be missed. What a beautiful tribute.
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