I didn't want to talk further about our relative's passing for fear of taking over the thread on a negative note. But you are all so kind - we thank you for your thoughts and wishes.
It was a positive event for several reasons:
Hi wife passed away a couple of years ago, and with her went his will and ambition. They were both severely crippled, and depended upon one another for different daily tasks. Generally, what one wasn't able to do, the other could.
Recently, he fell and broke his leg. Being in poor physical condition to start with (severly dehabilitating arthritis), his leg didn't show much sign of healing properly, and he was forced into placement in a "care facility." I was able to negotitate beer for him at his request (his one last pleasure, other than harrassing politicians via email).
His leg developed an infection, which he refused treatment for. He stated that he wanted to "go home and die," which most would perceive as being delusional and depressed, but in fact is consistant with his words and wishes going back several years.
He passed away at the "care facility" (whose quality of care I was NOT impressed with when I visited). The death certificate states the cause of death as (defined from the Latin in the dictionary) "malnutrition of body and mind." I wouldn't have noticed it, save for the crematorium person pointing it out, stating "We've never seen this before, we don't know what it means."
So, you see, it was actually positive that he passed.
We're going for an airplane ride in a couple of weeks to scatter their ashes. If you think an Irish wake is something, you should see a German wake with a Georgian thrown in...