Life is hard in New Orleans right now between the recession, oil spill and hurricane season. It’s harder still for my good friend, Mark. Mark’s mother is terribly sick so he’s been spending a lot of time at the hospital.Mark wrote a post about a recent hospital tour of duty with his mom that ripped my heart out. I don’t cry easily or often but I wept after reading this.
It’s particularly poignant when your last surviving parent is at death’s door. The world is a lonelier place after the people that brought you into it aren’t around any more. It doesn’t matter if you saw them very often or even got along with them but it was always reassuring to know they were there.
I’d like to dedicate one of Neil Finn’s best songs to Mark and his family; especially his sister Pam who has been their mother’s primary caretaker. Hole In The River is about family and mortality and while there’s not a hole in the river around here there’s one in the Gulf, alas.
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getting old sucks. a quick/accidental death may be a better way out than the medical industrial complex who refuse to let you die when you time comes.