the passing of "Andy"

The time had come, though it was sooner than expected. He had lived several years, lost in the confines of his own mind, isolated from the world, from familiarity, from everything he had always known. It was harder for her, I believe. To watch his deterioration, to slowly see him fading, away from the world and away from her. But he still knew her; he could still feel her love, still recognize the connection of so many decades in her eyes. He still knew her until a day this past autumn when he failed to know anyone any longer.

Once he stopped knowing even her, his lost journey in this world expanded, deepened, became unmanageable for her in order to preserve his safety. With hesitation and a heart burdened by sadness, she found him care, a home where his lost wanderings could be redirected from a complete disappearance. A place where his body would be cared for as his mind continued to leave him stranded, alone in a place of confusion and helplessness. Even then, his gentle manner remained.

His condition continued to worsen, but it was a process doomed to be slow and lengthy and gradual. This slow and lengthy and gradual process was what she anticipated, what we all anticipated. Until this morning. When a phone call came. A call to say it was over, his wanderings had ceased, he was no longer lost in this world, but had crossed into another world where peace at last had been found.