Update
Ladies and gentlemen, I promise that I will finish this story as soon as things settle down and I am able to focus. Until then, however, I hope you will indulge me by allowing me to post this short, true story. It goes a long way towards explaining my views of death and dieing and why I was able to give Harry the time with is parents in both "Harry Potter, Heir of Gryffindor" and "Harry Potter and the Clash of the Titans."
On Monday, December 17, 2007 my mother and I took my father to the clinic for an appointment with his doctor. He had some blood drawn before the appointment so they could check a few things. When it came time for his appointment his doctor said that his hemoglobin was way too low. Normal is 14 and Dad's count was 6.3. She said she wanted to admit him over night because he needed blood and fluids immediately. Mom agreed to this so, following the nurse, I took Dad down to the room they had set up for him. I transferred him from the wheelchair to the bed because I didn't want anyone else doing it.
Mom came down a few minutes later and sent me home to send a file to my brother in Utah. According to Mom, about an hour later, while they were still giving him IV fluids, his eyes went wide and he stared at something. His eyes were pointed towards the ceiling but we have no idea what he was seeing. After staring for several seconds he closed his eyes for a minute or two and then did it again. He didn't stare as long this time but it was just as intense.
My mother called the nurse in and told her that things were changing. The nurse took his vitals and said that everything seemed to be fine and asked if there was anything else she could do. My mother asked her to call me and that she wanted me to come back up to the hospital.
The nurse was relatively young and I honestly don't think she knew that my dad was in the process of dieing but, with what I had observed over the past few days I had a pretty good idea what was going on.
When I arrived I walked around to the far side of Dad's bed, as my mother was on the near side, and took his hand. A few minutes later he opened his eyes and turned to look at me. The thing was that I got the impression that he was looking through me. He stared in my direction for a few seconds and then turned his head and did the same to Mom. He was looking directly at her be he was not seeing her.
After he closed his eyes and relaxed I told my mother that I have had the feeling that over the past couple of weeks he has been seeing his brothers and sisters an parents who have already died. I then turned to Dad and told him that it was okay if he went with them. Less than 15 seconds later he was dead.
It was, as I said, a very peaceful send off. The kicker of it is that he hadn't even been admitted to the hospital yet. When the girl from the Business Office came in several minutes later she asked if he could sign some paper work. When a friend told her that he couldn't she asked why not. Our friend said something to the effect of, "Well he's dead." It was really kind of funny to watch that girl's reaction. Her lips formed a giant "O" and she turned around and scurried back down the hall doing an animated double-time march. I honestly don't think she had ever seen death before.
I think I can safely say that if thestrals were real I would be able to see them because my father honored me by allowing me to be there when he died.