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Marcy’s husband sat by her bed hour upon hour. He was always there, but today was different. Dr. Worthington had told them that Marcy had only a few hours left. So, Ralph called the kids and told them to come. He sat close by and held her hand. He could feel her beginning to pass to the other side. Marcy Adams was already becoming cold to his touch. Their two children, Nancy and Robert, were there in the room. They came to her bedside to speak with her again and again, and each time, their consoling words seemed to placate her.
“I want all of you to promise me you will remember how I raised you when I’m gone and conduct your lives properly in my honor,” Marcy said. “I would have loved to have been with you longer, but that’s not going to be possible now.”
“I cannot believe they won’t treat you other than give you pain pills for this, mom,” her son, Robert, said.
“Don’t worry about me, Robert,” Marcy said, to her son, “because I’m accepting my fate. We all have to die sometime.”
Robert was twenty-five years old, and the tears came from his eyes, letting her know that her death was painful to him.
“I know you love me. Now, show it by accepting fate. We all die, son. Please don’t let this destroy your faith in the goodness of the world. That would only increase the loss I have suffered. I want you to be happy and productive, to have children, and raise them the same way I raised you, Robert, with love and kindness. I know you will do that for me.”
“Yes, mom,” Robert said.
Her husband, Ralph Adams, bent over and kissed Marcy’s forehead. “We have really good kids, mom,” he said.
“I know, dear. When it came to our children, we most certainly did something right in our lives.”
Marcy looked at her children and smiled.
“Listen, guys, I will be up there with Jesus, looking down upon you. Everything you do down here, just remember this, that I will be there with you,” Marcy said. “I won’t ever desert you. I promise.”
It seemed trite to Nancy, but it also seemed the right thing to say. She had loved her mom for all twenty-three years she had lived with her, and she’d never known her mother to lie to her. She also could never remember a time when Marcy was unable to be with her in times when she needed her mom’s counseling. Those days were now coming to an abrupt close. Nancy knew her life would soon experience an abrupt change.
“How will I live without you, mom?” Nancy asked. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Oh, you’ll make do, Nancy,” her mother said. “We have always made do. You will survive me and live a very good life. And, like I told you, I’ll be right here with you, from up there just as I am now. Just because you can’t see me doesn’t mean I’m not with you. I will be with you always, dear. I want you to believe this.”
In a matter of minutes, their familiar matriarch was gone. When she crossed over Marcy had slipped from life into eternity so fast that none of them were even aware of the moment in which she crossed the path into eternity. Her eyes remained open just as when she talked with them a few seconds before, only in the very next moment she no longer breathed. There was no dramatic change to indicate her passing. In fact, it took several minutes for them to realize Marcy had actually taken the exit ramp out of their little world of mistakes and joys. What clued them in was how she lay there so quietly and her eyes never blinked at them. They just stared ahead like they always had, and they eventually noticed how her breathing had stopped. Other than that, she looked as alive as ever.
“She’s gone,” Mr. Adams said.
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