After a couple days in a hospice in central Kentucky, Kristin passed yesterday (Thursday, 10/7) at about 4:30 PM. While she was still aware of her surroundings, she was happy for the move to the hospice. Her room commanded a view of the rolling bluegrass hills, and the sunsets were gorgeous while she was there. She was surrounded by family and friends the entire time, and the funeral director told me she looked as peaceful as anyone he’s ever seen in his capacity.
She had returned to the Catholic religion of her youth recently, so I’m sure she reckoned she had gone on to a “better place.” At one point, she said she could be with her dad again. I’m a nonbeliever and wonder what the point of it all is beyond the ones we make for ourselves, but given her suffering of the last few months, I will agree that she has gone to a “better place,” even if its only meaning is an end to the suffering.
She will be cremated and the ashes strewn in the glacial lake in Wisconsin that she loved so much, “so I’ll always be there and everyone will always know where to find me.” I’m saving some of her ashes so that they may be strewn with mine, wherever that may be, probably back in North Carolina.
Thanks very much for all the support she found here. She loved you people, and you were very much a part of her life. What I am going to do without her is unclear to me at the moment.