Life pacts

When my son Dylan was born, I stayed right next to him for his first hour as he passed around from one neo-natal room to another. He was confused and frightened, and he held my finger as though it were a life preserver. As I tried my best to assure him that everything would be all right, I was struck with an almost mythic feeling that we were now tied to a great circle of life. As I comforted him as he came into the world at one end of the cycle, I couldn't stop thinking about the two of us at the other end of that cycle, when he would be there to comfort me at the end of my life. Contemplating the profundity of this moment gave me great joy.

It occurs to me as I go to Iowa to see my father before he dies, that he and I are in a similar pact. As he was next to me when I came into the world, it is necessary that I be there next to him as he is leaving the world. There are no tears, except those of joy that this life cycle will have been fulfilled.