The Owl is considered by many Native Americans to be the shepherd of souls as they are crossing from this life. Two nights ago, Dave and I were awakened by what sounded like an Owl perched on our bedroom windowsill..."hoo hoo hoo-hoo'ing" for the longest time. Must have been doing that for 15 minutes or so.

We had such good talks lately. She was more "with it" and linear in her thinking the last few days, with the decision to enter hospice and so forth, and expressed her feeling that her time was short. We had some good laughs, too, (our family has an off-center sense of humor). Last Saturday I asked her if she still wanted to enter hospice (she had made the decision the evening before and I was going to make the arrangements on Monday), she laughed and said, "Why? Are you testing my memory?" "Well...yeah, maybe, Mom..." and we both had a good laugh. She again said that was her decision and we talked about it briefly, and I told her I would not ask her again.

My mom had a reputation in our family for not being able to make a decision...or to fluctuate back and forth between one. She said to me, laughing, "Don't worry, this is one decision I won't back out of."

Mom was in a semi-private room in the skilled nursing facility these last few days, in a room with a lady whom she knew. Whenever I called to see how she was doing, the nurses would mention that the two of them were just chatting away and having a good time. Our family always kidded my mom about "being vaccinated with a phonograph needle." I'm glad she had some companionship; her roommate was in the room when she passed, so she indeed was not alone in a physical sense.

My fave cousin Karen and her sister had gone to Brenham to visit Mom yesterday (she knew they were coming) but found her already deeply "asleep" when they arrived. Not wanting to try and wake her (Karen nurtured her husband thru cancer and his death...she knew what was going on, I think) they went to get lunch. I called the facility to check on Mom and while speaking with the nurse she asked if I could hold on a minute. She was gone for what seemed like several minutes, came back, and said "I don't know how to tell you this...but your mom passed away just now."

Interestingly, I had tried twice earlier to call the facility. One attempt at the main number resulted in a fax tone (weird) and the next time it just rang and rang (also highly unusual there). My belief is that I was not meant to make contact until that moment...to "be there" when Mom made her passage.

According to her wishes, Mom will be cremated and we will then have a life celebration at her church in a couple of weeks. I have already picked out an assortment of photos throughout her life to share at that event. (My mom was a real "looker" when she was younger...no wonder my dad took to her! HA!) I'll then see about having her interred at the National Cemetery in Houston. Although not a veteran herself, she was a civil servant throughout her life and my dad was a veteran. Mom had a deep love of country (something which I get from her) and had expressed wanting to end up there. (My dad's ashes were scattered by me from a B-17 over the Gulf of Mexico, according to his wishes.)