I wonder sometimes what is a better way to go, slow or quickly. Slow does give you time to say goodbye, but watching a friend or loved one fade away is heartbreaking. Quickly or suddenly avoids the lingering. You want the extra time to say goodbye, but without that suffering. Alas, we don’t get to pick. Perhaps better that way.
I’ve had 2 relatives die suddenly in their early 60s and one whose cancer killed him in 18 months when he was 54 . To be honest, I’d rather go in a second like my uncle did, who only took in a loud breath and died putting his work boots on one ordinary morning. My other uncle went from a vibrant 53 year old to an old man in a year, horrifying. My aunt died in her sleep, the best way to go in my opinion.
I’ve wondered about that fast or slow way of leaving this world. The hard part on the slow -—is on the sick one. I think of that terrible illness — ALS, where the mind is alert to the end after long lingering. I lost my dear DH quite unexpectedly, and altho a shock to me, at least it was easier on him. But — it is not for us to decide. “Ours is not to reason why ——”.