My Friend Passed Away Today

My friend of 50 years, much like a sister to me, passed away today.  She had another stroke.  Because of my religious beliefs I know that she is in a better place.  She is no longer in any pain.  She is reunited with people she loves.  She is more than ok.  She would not want us to cry, but at the hospital I did and her husband did, and I am sure her sister and niece did too when they got the phone call.  It just seems weird.  One minute you are fine and in the blink of an eye something can happen and life changes.  After her first stroke she was not able to swallow.  Just yesterday at the hospital when we were trying to wake her up to see if she could possibly swallow some lemon ice for the therapist I told her "remember how we have spent 100's of hours talking on the phone ... you have to get better so we can do that again."  I also told her remember how many times we have gone just driving around, drinking Dr Pepper from Sonic, and listening to the radio, swaping every secret thought we either had ever had?  We have got to go driving around, and to do that you have got to get better.   Well, it will be a while until she and I get to do that.  The 11 days she was in the hospital I know she never recognized me.  Because she had not made any progress the hospital was going to discharge her soon and told her husband he would need to put her in a nursing home.  I know for a fact, from our hours of talking about things, that she never, ever wanted to be in a nursing home.  Maybe she heard that and decided nope, not going to a nursing home. Her husband told me today when I asked what he was plannng for a service  that  there were some songs she would have want played.  She loved Elvis.  He was going to have think about what  gospel song of his she would have wanted.  He knew for certain she wanted the song Spirit in the Sky to be played.  A song from our high school days.  It was written in 1969, I think.  Here it is ....

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPPlGFh6OpQ