Dear Frank,
. . . As I grieved over him the next morning, expressing my regret that I hadn’t stayed, a kind nurse told me one thing she had learned from working that floor of the hospital over the years was that people seemed to choose the moment when they let go. Not exactly, of course, but it did seem like people would either die with loved ones in the room, or specifically in quiet moments when loved ones were asleep or not there. She really believed that people might hang on in order to be held by their loved ones as they died, or, feeling like their love was known and not wishing to cause pain, they might let go deliberately when they were alone.
I can’t convey how convincing she was, with her years of experience being bedside with the dying, but I believed her, and it brought me comfort. I share it with you in case it may bring comfort, too, to the writer of that postcard.
