Life is fragile

 Diann has decided on hospice about five days ago after finding out her options. It is a bitter-sweet time to say goodbye. 

This anthill has sprung up this week and will probably be gone when the groundskeeper blows the leaves off of the pavement. There is a time and a season and sometimes the time is short.

Elder Nelson's talk "Doors of Death" 1992

"Irrespective of age, we mourn for those loved and lost. Mourning is one of the deepest expressions of pure love. It is a natural response in complete accord with divine commandment: “Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die” (D&C 42:45).

Moreover, we can’t fully appreciate joyful reunions later without tearful separations now. The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life."

"As seedlings of God, we barely blossom on earth; we fully flower in heaven."

"Scriptures teach that death is essential to happiness: “Now behold, it was not expedient that man should be reclaimed from this temporal death, for that would destroy the great plan of happiness” (Alma 42:8; italics added; see also 2 Ne. 9:6).

Our limited perspective would be enlarged if we could witness the reunion on the other side of the veil, when doors of death open to those returning home. Such was the vision of the psalmist who wrote, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Ps. 116:15)."

"As a special witness of Jesus Christ, I testify that He lives! I also testify that the veil of death is very thin. I know by experiences too sacred to relate that those who have gone before are not strangers to leaders of this Church. To us and to you, our loved ones may be just as close as the next room—separated only by the doors of death."