Thanks for sharing that heartfelt personal story, Kurt - my late dad went through a similar end-of-life experience (in his due to a terminal brain cancer diagnosis, followed by surgery which was merely a time-buying measure) around Christmas 2002 ... in his case he actually seemed to be close to his old self (in fact better, my Mom said his personality during that brief period reminded her of the man she'd met, not the 'difficult' - to put it *very* diplomatically - person we grew up with) for a brief time, but the whole thing apparently was too great a strain and his heart simply gave out during a hallway exercise-walk a few days after entering hospice.

Interestingly, I am also a middle child between sisters, the older one of which "has issues". Mom is still doing well for her age (79), but has her own issues - she was well on the way to becoming one of those neighborhood cat ladies (20+ ferals in her house at one point, she was having them neutered as they arrived but not managing to find them homes subsequently) until we and several of her friends finally got through to her that she needed to stop taking them in, and needed to do whatever it took to offload the ones already there.

So was your Mom disappointed that no one had shot the 2 notables you mention yet? :)

[QUOTE=ewmayer;504310]Thanks for sharing that heartfelt personal story, Kurt - my late dad went through a similar end-of-life experience (in his due to a terminal brain cancer diagnosis, followed by surgery which was merely a time-buying measure) around Christmas 2002 ... in his case he actually seemed to be close to his old self (in fact better, my Mom said his personality during that brief period reminded her of the man she'd met, not the 'difficult' - to put it *very* diplomatically - person we grew up with) for a brief time, but the whole thing apparently was too great a strain and his heart simply gave out during a hallway exercise-walk a few days after entering hospice.

Interestingly, I am also a middle child between sisters, the older one of which "has issues". Mom is still doing well for her age (79), but has her own issues - she was well on the way to becoming one of those neighborhood cat ladies (20+ ferals in her house at one point, she was having them neutered as they arrived but not managing to find them homes subsequently) until we and several of her friends finally got through to her that she needed to stop taking them in, and needed to do whatever it took to offload the ones already there.

So was your Mom disappointed that no one had shot the 2 notables you mention yet? :)[/QUOTE]

my mother passed christmas eve 2014 (due to pneumonia and uti but had that not taken her, her terminal inflammatory breast cancer had spread inoperably to her brain.) I'm one of 4 siblings from my mother, 2 step sisters and a half brother from my step mother.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;504310]So was your Mom disappointed that no one had shot the 2 notables you mention yet? :)[/QUOTE]
Yup. But not as disappointed as when [i]Il Duce[/i] was elected.

As you know, he made his name in politics as the "Birther-in-Chief," constantly mongering the rumor that President Obama was a foreigner.

And lo, one of the nurses when Mom was in the hospital was a statuesque black woman with an accent I couldn't place. It sound somewhat similar to Jamaicans I'd heard, but different.

And it came to pass, I happened to see her walking down the hall as she was going off shift. I raised my hand, indicating I had a question. She stopped, and said "Yes?" I said we had found her accent intriguing, and I asked: Where are you from? She said, "I am from Kenya." And before I could think I said, "Oh! That's where President Obama came from!" She literally doubled over laughing, and we all joined in. Mom was asleep at that moment, but was pleased to hear the story next morning.

Super Dave
 

[url]https://globalnews.ca/news/4808520/super-dave-osborne-bob-einstein-dead-76-curb-your-enthusiasm/?utm_source=GlobalSaskatoon&utm_medium=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR12hkXhnartsnBbC1N7jbfmU6zyGQBClwrMVSya7mPpUzWNZ0PiXXcl9i4[/url]

And the Captain
 

of Captain and Tennille

[url]https://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainment/music/news/daryl-dragon-the-‘captain’-of-’70s-duo-captain-and-tennille-dies-at-76/ar-BBRJ2dx?li=AAggNb9&item=personalization_enabled:false&OCID=ansmsnnews11[/url]

[QUOTE=petrw1;504731]of Captain and Tennille

[url]https://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainment/music/news/daryl-dragon-the-‘captain’-of-’70s-duo-captain-and-tennille-dies-at-76/ar-BBRJ2dx?li=AAggNb9&item=personalization_enabled:false&OCID=ansmsnnews11[/url][/QUOTE]Saw them by a bit of happenstance at smaller city's civic plaza once. (Not during their heyday.)

"Mean" [url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mean-gene-okerlund-wwe-dead-age-76-obituary-cause-of-death-today-2019-01-02/]Gene Okerlund[/url], of pro wrasslin' 'hard questions' interviewer fame. (Keeping a straight face amongst all that over-the-top silliness and braggadocio is harder than it looks.)

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus]<...>[/QUOTE]
Wonderful story, thank you for sharing it. May your mom rest in peace.

[url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-harold-brown/harold-brown-u-s-defense-chief-who-built-then-strove-to-contain-nuclear-weapons-dies-at-91-idUSKCN1OZ0NX?feedType=RSS&feedName=peopleNews]Former Secretary of Defense Harold Brown[/url]

[url=https://www.apnews.com/93eeb93e973b48c880f1bb21a23094dd]"Engineer Of Heaven" Eugeniu Iordachescu[/url]

Anyone else notice that they were all 76? Bad week for folks of that age.


[QUOTE=petrw1;504730][url]https://globalnews.ca/news/4808520/super-dave-osborne-bob-einstein-dead-76-curb-your-enthusiasm/?utm_source=GlobalSaskatoon&utm_medium=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR12hkXhnartsnBbC1N7jbfmU6zyGQBClwrMVSya7mPpUzWNZ0PiXXcl9i4[/url][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=petrw1;504731]of Captain and Tennille

[url]https://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainment/music/news/daryl-dragon-the-‘captain’-of-’70s-duo-captain-and-tennille-dies-at-76/ar-BBRJ2dx?li=AAggNb9&item=personalization_enabled:false&OCID=ansmsnnews11[/url][/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;504826]"Mean" [url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mean-gene-okerlund-wwe-dead-age-76-obituary-cause-of-death-today-2019-01-02/]Gene Okerlund[/url], of pro wrasslin' 'hard questions' interviewer fame. (Keeping a straight face amongst all that over-the-top silliness and braggadocio is harder than it looks.)[/QUOTE]