[originally posted June 8 2011, 9:47 AM]
There's a certain kind of freedom that comes at the edge of life. It's one of the things that us middle-lifers can be jealous of.
Among the things my family can already laugh about are the choice words of humor coming from my mother's mouth in her last days.
She'd already had a few incontinence episodes in the bed that week. At first, there was an urgent attempt to stop, followed by regret and embarrassment. After a while, just sweet surrender, as if saying "You can have your social conventions. I won't be needing them". So on her final morning, her announcement of letting go surprised and amused us all.
"I'm pissin'!"
For context, you have to imagine Mother Theresa saying this. We all swore last night that none of us (including dad) had ever heard her use those words before. We laughed. A black pearl.