My mother died recently. I was with her much of the time, in the weeks leading up to her death. And I was curious as to how her final days would be. As it turned out, during the last five days, she seemed to be processing things from her past, sometimes painful, sometimes joyful. Around the clock she was in a half dream, half wakeful state. She didn’t speak much during these days – she mostly seemed to have withdrawn into a deep inner space – but I paid attention to the things she did say.
The utterance I liked most was simply, “Well, well, well!” This was said as an acknowledgement of surprise. I wonder what she had seen, what she had understood, that led her to this exclamation. I shall never know.
This simple statement also reminded me of words of Julian of Norwich:
…but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
I’ve always loved this quote. For me, it simply undoes centuries of burdensome moralising by the Christian church. It returns everything to its rightful place, to God. It allows us to breathe and to live and to smile. It liberates.
