Ronda remembers Thanksgiving invitation, Pierre comes to talk about hereafter, and gone, bed bugs

When my daughter Ronda called me on the way to dance, she remembered she had not mentioned Thanksgiving which of course she and Chad are doing, only this time, these busy people are ordering Thanksgiving, thank goodness. Last year, they were both tired from working and I felt sorry for them cooking a huge dinner. Gary is not coming so I left her that message later, as she is ordering the food tomorrow.

Later I got up to read a post my sister Margie put up about her husband who is in a care center now declining at the age of 90. After a lot of thinking about it, I spoke to Pierre as I spent a year taking him to doctors and watching him decline of what turned out to be lung cancer. I wondered if I was up to taking care of him at home with the help of hospice. If my strength failed then he would have had to go into hospice. Margie brought Floyd home once but they could not keep him off the floor. They would just get him up and he would get up out of bed and fall down again! It took a man to lift him, so Margie called for them to come and take him back to the care center.
Pierre came quickly as he remembered that Margie was very kind when he was dying and sent $200 dollars to defray expenses. We had to pay off a debt that month Pierre owed the bank, so that helped us get through his last month without me having to borrow money. Others contributed enough for his cremation. He got a kick out of my daughter shopping around for a bargain after he tried to sell his ashes to his ex wife if she would send him $700 to pay for them. I warned him I doubted if he was worth that. Pierre and I joked a lot like Doc and I do, no matter the subject. His ex wife called after I notified her he had passed and said she still wanted his ashes. I made her wait a year while I thought it over, but since he did not like Arizona I decided to send them to California where she was. I know he would not be happy with his ashes scattered among the Saguaro.

PIERRE: Oh, I did not care where my ashes went at that point.
GERRY: Oh, here is Pierre. I thought I would give you an introduction but there you have popped in.
PIERRE: I told Gerry that you sort of have to make a reservation for your flight to the hereafter just like you do on an airplane. All of you would do well to do some research into what might lie ahead so you will be more comfortable on your flight and won't be so anxious about suddenly dropping off into oblivion. We do get people all the time who have spaced out on the flight, surrendered to oblivion. Then we have to try to get them to come back. Our idea now is to pay visits to the sick before hand, maybe even years before to try to prevent some of these profoundly black mental states on arrival.
GERRY: Hmm, would those be atheists?
PIERRE: Anybody can turn atheist at any given moment. All their beliefs in heaven can simply evaporate.
GERRY: My neighbor just died. We have been expecting it.
PIERRE: Ron arrived in relatively good shape despite his weight.
GERRY: He would always say he was a man of God. But I wanted that woman standing on the stairway to heaven to represent my sister Margie who is Floyd's slim little nurse. She said she finally told him today that he was dying and what was he thinking about? He said he was trying not to think. She asked him if he did not want to see his mother and dad, and he said, no! She has spent hours and days and years looking after him so I suppose she thought to have a conversation with him if she could about it. It was probably impossible for her to remain silent about impending death any longer.
PIERRE: If he is 90 and declining he has got to know a change is coming. I am sure her being a long time nurse, she would take more risks than most in what she might say to him.
GERRY: She has been studying books about death and dying. Then too a tragedy occurred. Floyd's nephew died from a hunting accident. His horse fell on him. His funeral was just Saturday. He was only 50 years old, so I am sure that had a very unsettling effect on Floyd. His brother had been a constant visitor until his son died, just when they thought he was recovering.
PIERRE: Floyd is probably on stand by until he and his brother recover some from this death. There can be delays in takeoff from accidents like this. Floyd is now probably trying to hold on until he thinks the family has recovered enough to take his death, too, which will be a lot less traumatic since he is old.
GERRY: He did not smoke or drink and he's got a pacemaker. Seems like those things keep a person going even if the rest of them has deteriorated, including their minds.
PIERRE: That is called a pacemaker death. But they save lives for years. They are worth it. Tell your sister Margie not to worry, Floyd is actually doing well with his departing. Things are on schedule and going as expected.
GERRY: Hmm, she might be glad to hear that.
PIERRE: It will be over soon. The big ship is coming in. The veil is opening to allow pickup.
GERRY: Floyd's dying has not been tragic at all. He fought through ten by pass surgeries to live, so he is a very tough man. He loved life.
PIERRE: The more you love life the better. That love of life will carry you through to eternal life, just because you enjoyed life too much to want it to end, so you will do all you can to build your eternal life when it becomes necessary.
GERRY: Goodbye Pierre.

I can't believe I scheduled a talk about bed bugs here.
Well, the bed bugs in this complex will soon be gone because the generous owner and management have inspected every apartment, some twice and are vigorously treating the infested ones with a heat treatment. They have left tapes under the beds to catch any strays. I read today many all over the world are suffering from bed bugs. Even the State Empire building in New York got infested. One man said his daughters' apartment got so bad they just finally ran from them to save being bit to death, and when people find you have them, you get dropped!
I just found out tonight that DDT and another powerful insecticide were banned, so that is why they have gotten so far out of hand. I wondered how our mother killed ours when I was little. Yes, we got 'em then. She was in love with DDT when it came out and blasted everything with it. It is a wonder we are still alive.