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By Megan McGregor

“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.

And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb.

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”

― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

You left a beautiful mess. Logs downed for the next winters heat. A metal roof to be finished so the house wouldn’t leak. Enough lumber to build a deck and fix the rotting bathroom. Piles of car parts and engines to fxc the broken vehicles. And enough scrap metal to pay to haul it all away when you left your body.

It wasn’t a “good death”, you didn’t get the choice, it was made for you. Undetermined on the death certificate; not knowing a new illness attached to an old illness would make that choice for you. Now you breath free, and sing with the Gods.

We climbed many mountaintops together, and now you were going to ascend to the tallest one alone. Not to be seen in body, but now in soul you will rise and climb to the top; drink from the clean waters of death and dance in heart to sounds of your children laughing, your mother weeping and smiling about the life you gave to all of us, and a father who loved you so.

You left a beautiful mess…