Life isn't perfect -- it never really is. A man lost his wife tonight who he had been married to for 14 years, dated for 10, and known each other as children growing up.
I have been on many victim bereavement calls after the death of a person. They all take you back in a certain way. This one bothered me more than per usual because, although the paramedics had already come and gone by the time that I had arrived, the woman's eyes were still opened. I guess I am just used to paramedics in the past closing the eyes of the deceased before I arrive -- and when I had found my own husband dead, his eyes were already closed (but my husband had also often talked with his eyes closed - a habit of his for some reason).
Currently at work, working on advocacy in another realm tonight; however, the vision of the woman still remains engrained upon my mind. I am sure that it will for quite some time.
Throughout life there are things that approach the way we feel about life and treasure life for what it is and is to be. Seeing death in people, as morbid as it may sound, is one such way that we gain a greater perspective and value for life and the life we live each day.
As family members thanked us for being there, I mentioned to them that, "I can't say that we enjoy being here, but we are indeed happy that we can help in any way that we can." I even had one woman bless me tonight; this is certainly not your normal sequence of events at a scene.
I think I remember from a time when my closest grandmother died a person told me that for every death there is a birth. In so doing, while we sadly will miss the person leaving us and heading towards their life after death (for those of us who do believe in that), it is a joy in being able to look forward to births to follow.
I wonder what great birth will become of this death tonight, as a result. Who knows? In the meantime, we are always forever touched in our souls by life's experiences -- the good and the bad, the life and the death.
