The Long Hold, 19th Day of Childwinter, 525 M.E. (Atlas): The vigil is over.

The end of the vigil was not unexpected, but what was surprising is that it should have ended Friday. Mom passed away in hospice care around 1:00 a.m. early Friday morning, but the hospital failed to inform next-of-kin. My sister, Mom's health-care proxy, and I had been waiting on pins and needles since Wednesday for the dreaded phone call and I finally called the Hospital (Holy Family in Methuen, Massachusetts) today. I wasn't the proxy and they wouldn't give me any information, but I did manage to get them to reveal that she was "discharged" on Thursday but they wouldn't tell me to where.

My sister, the legal proxy, called after that and was told that Mom passed away overnight on Thursday. We're still trying to find out why the hospital couldn't be bothered to tell us the news. 

But I don't want to substitute anger at the hospital for grief over Mom's demise. Impermanence is swift and life-and-death is the great matter. She will live on in the hearts and memories of her children.