Vigil with my dad has ended

[StephN]

Dear Her2support friends:

My father chose to meet his Lord and Savior on a perfect, sunny day in Seattle at 10:50am. The sky was the color of blue that he always loved about his visits and reminding him of his college days at the University of Washington. That brilliant blue color was a reflection of his own crystal blue eyes onto the world around him.

My mom and 2 sisters are here and together we are setting the stage for dad's celebration of life later in the week. My brother is writing the obit. Dad slipped into a coma on Saturday and his passing was peaceful and without distress for him. I am very sad, yet that is being ameliorated by relief as the minutes tick by.

Here is something that one of our HER2 sisters sent me a while back that is SO appropriate to the way my dad lived his life. I think one of my nephews plans to read it at the service, if not one of my sisters.

Thank you for your love and prayers through all these difficult months.

What Will Matter
By Michael Josephson (Ethicist)


Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.
It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built,
Not what you got but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched,
Empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew,
But how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories but the memories of those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters