On Monday, my mom passed away after an extended set of health issues. Her health was always precarious, and going back to 2006 when she had her first bout with breast cancer, it was always top of mind. She was 67. It feels very young to lose a parent to "natural causes". She had two hip replacements, COPB, Covid, colitis, on and on. She had a major lung surgery in 2014 that we didn't expect her to survive, and I'm trying to view the previous 9 years as a gift. Her services are tomorrow. This whole process has been a blur, and it's been so bizarre and surreal. The upending of a life is just something that I think we don't talk enough about, and God knows had we been more prepared, it might save us some $ and some heartache, but also help get us all to peace more quickly. FOCUS: Death and dying. One thing I'm very grateful for is my family's presence in the church, because that meant the funeral services were fairly cheap ($4500), straightforward and as far as planning, painless. Also, we are adrift in a river of sympathy chicken and grief cheese. I'm genuinely curious about her medical debts, because my assumption is the dead can't pay for shit. My folks are still married, but we'll see how it goes.