The Godspeed for Ruth

posted by The Sailor @ 5:39 PM Permalink

On a personal note, my friend and co-blogger SteveAudio's Mom passed away Saturday night.

Ruth would sometimes comment on posts as 'Steve's Mom.' The first time I saw it was in a response to something I'd commented about, (this was before I was asked to blog there), and I wrote to Steve 'Is that really your Mom?'

He replied in the affirmative and from then on I looked for her comments on other posts.

Her comments were really hip, kind, but brooked no BS. I've never met her, heck I've never met Steve, but I'm really sorry she's gone. For my sake as well as Steve's.

Something that struck me in Steve's post was that now he and his siblings were orphans. I felt that way when my Dad died. Since then I've heard the same thing from several people who had lost their remaining parent.

It doesn't matter if you're 8 or 80 it's a terrible loss and undermines your belief that someone would always be there. Having a spouse and/or children alleviates but doesn't negate that feeling.

I never knew what true love was until I saw my Dad, so sick, so frail, ... and I would have changed places with him in a second if I could have. I guess that's how he felt all along.

It's the natural order of things that a parent passes before the child, but it doesn't make it easier.

The hurt goes away, but the sense of loss and wanting to turn to them never does.

For Ruth:
Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you
Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you
But in your dreams whatever they be
Dream a little dream of me

Labels: requiem