It was easy to get caught up in his eyes for it was almost as
if he spoke through them, even though the words came softly out of his
mouth. They had a grayish color with an
undertone of sunrise yellow, surrounded by small-etched wisdom wrinkles revealing
years of living. We’d started with cancer
waiting room small talk, but if you’ve been on a cancer journey long you
quickly move to those things in life that really matter. He talked about his daughter and grandkids
and their love for him, and worry about his pain and the quickly approaching
end of his journey. Toward the end of
our conversation, he paused, then smiled and talked about his dreams of just slipping
away.
I blinked hard to try to hold back my tears, but they quietly
streamed down my face. As I wiped at my
tears, a nurse called my name and with his eyes, I heard him say, “Thanks for
listening, bless you”. This morning I
woke with the Simon & Garfunkel tune Slip Sliding Away, playing in my head,
thought about his eyes, and wondered if this morning he’d slipped away …. “Slip slidin’ away / Slip slidin’ away / You
know the nearer your destination / The more you’re slip slidin’ away”.
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