The Final Journey

  He gazed down upon the commotion around the hospital bed. A couple of nurses and a doctor were bent over his frail and wasted body. In a corner was his wife saying a prayer asking God to take care of him and comfort for herself.


He felt light and curiously very mobile. He had been tied down to a wheel chair for so long, endured the daily heavy feeling of cycling fluid through his peritoneals all day for many years. Surprisingly, he didnt feel tired. He had always been gasping for breath, and blacking out due to the deteriorated condition of his heart.


He listened as the doctor gave his final prognosis to his wife. "He’s gone. We’ve done the best we could for him." His wife nodded in acceptance and watched as they covered his body with a white shroud and wheeled it to the morgue.


Curiously, there was no feeling of aggravation, pity, or  grief.. just a lightness that comes from being freed from the prison of a frail and diseased body. He followed his wife down the sanitized corridors of the hospital and heard her break the news of his passing. He watched as his sons and daughter cried as they hugged their mother in their grief. His grandchildren were inconsolable, dazed with the idea that he was gone forever from their lives.


This was a new feeling. He could float effortlessly. And curiously, he could keep up with his family as the car barrelled down the freeway and back into the driveway and the familiar surroundings of the house which he had known for so long. He looked at his hands after he touched his loved ones, who did not seem to feel. They were not even aware of his presence. He observed them as they tiredly took dinner and went to bed crying and mourning his passing.


Curiously, time does not exist in this dimension. Once more he made the rounds visiting his other sons across the ocean. They were all precoccupied with their grief in their own ways, and all he could do was watch and marvel at his unusual ability to go wherever he wanted.  And curiously, there were no feelings of regret, or sadness. Just relief and awe and wonder.


He gazed upward toward the sparkling mantle of the universe. Out there was a tunnel of light that beckoned. Instinctively, and without prompting, he was drawn to it. And as he did, he saw other people, of all races. Men, women, and children… transitioning,  like himself, moving toward that direction. Remarkably, there was no stress or excitement. Just a calm and orderly proceeding, like it had been rehearsed to perfection in his lifetime. There were no attendant noise or merrymaking, either. Just peace, calm and quiet.


As he floated upward, he looked back at the sparkling lights of the city which he was leaving. Quite the reverse effect of gazing at the skies at night. The lights receded till they were just a dot and vanished forever… Just like the flume of smoke from the crematorium that consumed his remains. It hung for a moment, suspended in the air,  and was dispersed by a gentle spring breeze. Just like his earthbound life, it was gone in an instant. But he is on another journey. Homeward bound.


Back home, with the remains in an urn and pictures taken for posterity, the family gathered for a memorial. Friends and relatives came once more to comfort each other and remember. At the end of the ceremonies, as if in a single accord, they looked up, seemingly wanting to give their individual send offs. Wherever, you are, Daddy, Lolo, Junior, Uncle Ap, Pare, friend, or whatever they called him in his lifetime, …."may you have a good trip."


I guess I know better. I threw a salute to the sparkling skies and bid my father Godspeed and goodnight. We will  certainly meet again, sometime in the future. Perhaps well talk about about the wonders of that glorious transitioning  and that dazzling moment of our final journey to the stars.


Good night dad. Well miss you.. but only for a little while.