Rest in Peace, Agnes Morin

I mentioned quickly on Twitter Friday (? is that the right order of those words ?) that my 95yr old grandmother was on her deathbed.  This was not an unexpected thing, she has lived in a nursing home or the last 4 years and has been on the decline.  This weekend was just a sharper turn.

Well, this morning we got the news that she passed away in her sleep last night.  This is a goodness.  She was in pain, and it was wearing on her 70+yr old children to be by her bedside for so long.  

I will end this post the same way that I always do when somebody in our little universe goes to visit the great undiscovered country.  But before I do that, I'd like to take a walk through some of Shakespeare's more comforting lines at a time such as this.  After all, so many of the most memorable deaths he gave us are tragic, often men, typically violent.  Grammie was none of these things.  But, yet, death still comes.  

When I first heard the news on Friday I went right to "Give me my robe, put on my crown, I have immortal longings in me."  I know that it is entirely a figment of my own brain, but I like to think that people have control over the moment in which they cross over, and do so when they are themselves at peace with it.

"To me, fair Friend, you never can be old, For as you were when first your eye I eyed
Such seems your beauty still."  This one might be a little unusual to recite over your 95yr old grandmother, but I still like the point.  We all know that old age will eventually come.  But it's up to us to decide how we deal with it.

"Thy eternal summer shall not fade."  Another nice image, just like that.

I'm at work, so that's all I've got for now.  Please feel free to chip in your own favorite quotes.  If someone close to you died, which words from Shakespeare would you find comforting?

A special personal thanks to WendyGough, Minisquiggs, Bardfilm and TheShakesForum who spotted my original Twitter note and sent me their own thoughts and support.  Thank you.

Now cracks a noble heart.  Good night, Grammie.  And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.