in other, sadder news

My cousin Charlie is dying.* He is the only cousin my age, my father's brother's eldest son. He waited for a liver transplant for a long time and finally got it. But the donor liver never kicked in. Life support was disconnected a few days ago since there was no brain activity after the seizure that followed liver failure. His wife and three children now wait for the inevitable. My parents will wait for the news and fly up to New Jersey when he dies. This would be a painful enough occurrence if it weren't for the fact that...

...My aunt is also dying. My mother's friend since junior high school and the maid of honor at her wedding, she and my uncle have been especially important constants during the upheaval in our family over the years. She has survived the destruction of diabetes for far longer than anyone ever predicted. She always had a wicked sense of humor and a real concern for my sisters and me. I am deeply saddened as she slips away. Her husband and three daughters join my cousin's family in that waiting limbo where all you can do is review the past, stifle hope and wish for the unthinkable: that your loved one will pass painlessly.

*Charlie died one day after this entry.