A walk with Grim

Grim has always been set out to be feared. He’s the one coming after people marked for death after all. He’s the one that’s there when people die. He’s not what people make him out to be. At all. He’s not what people think he is. He’s the one helping that person through one of the hardest moments of their life. A moment where they’re leaving their living loved ones for another journey in life. He’s the person that’s there to help that person in that normally sad moment. 

He has one, if not many, conversations during the dying process. He’s listening as the person is sharing their life with him. The sad moments. The happy moments. The moments that happen in between. Memories with people long since passed. Along with memories with the living. Conversations where he’d normalized death. That everyone is destined to die. That everyone is bound for this journey to another realm we take a journey through. 

He’s not a bad guy at all. He’s like everyone else after all. He wants the person to not be in pain as they die. He doesn’t want them focusing on what is happening. He wants nothing more than for that person’s transition to be a smooth one. He knows the pain they’re experiencing that is leaving their loved ones behind. He understands how hard it is for that person as well as their loved ones. He reminds them they’re able to send messages to them. 

He’s there to help them as their soul is leaving their body. He’s guiding them through unknown waters. He’s also asking where they want to go after they take their last. To the beach. To a Library. To a mountain side. Anywhere they want to go he’ll take them to. A little cottage by the beach where they can spend their time. Sometimes, he knows where to take them after talking to them. He’s helped people see their life a little differently as well while they're walking along the path. 

He talks about their life from his perspective as they’re dying. A different vantage point they may not have thought about. Conversations about decisions made in the moment that didn’t seem like the right one that ended up being so for whatever reason. That it’s okay to do what’s best for the moment and for the future. That it’s okay to wander around lost at times. It’s part of life. Life that’s going to happen either way. He reminds them making the best of it is what life is about. Everyone is going to make hard decisions. Life is about experiencing things. It’s experiencing things you never thought you would. Or even dreamed about.  

He does more than just talking as well as listening. He’s walking them to their next journey in life. A journey into another realm. Where they’re able to freely travel around wherever they please. They’re able to see things they’d not been able to before. They’re able to finally be reunited with loved ones long since passed. He’s happy for them in those moments. He’s able to breathe easier knowing the person he ferried is in good hands. Loved ones waiting for them. His Gondola had successfully ferried someone else to their loved ones. Last words of encouragement were said before his departure. 

I should know. I’m one of the people that he helped me as I died. I knew he was coming for me. I felt him nearby. I’d felt him getting closer as the days passed. My terminal illness meant death was coming for me sooner rather than later. I’d spent my days writing away. I’d been normalizing death. I’d talked about death a little differently. I let people know death comes for us all. It’s only the beginning of another journey in life. That I’m going to be okay after I die. I’d left specific instructions for burial. No coffin, no big brouhaha. A simple COL (Celebration Of Life) and burying my body in the ground. I hadn’t been sure where until it’d come to me. I wanted to be cremated with my ashes spread in the ocean. On a beach I’d visited during my travels. 

My best friend was the one that’d done it. She, along with quite a few others, went on one last adventure with me to where I wanted my ashes spread. Tears were shed. A few words were choked out through those tears. Memories were shared. With my ashes being slowly lowered into the water where they drifted out to sea. My brother had been a mess the entire time. Uncontrollable sobbing for half of it. He knew I was okay. He’d kept his promise of spreading my ashes. I’d kept mine. To  let him know I’m always by his side.