My brother-in-law passed away Wednesday night. It was not unexpected, as he had been in a slow decline for several years and a faster one for the past few months, so it hasn't come as a major blow to the family. I mention it here because events surrounding it have prevented me from reading the lengthier things that people have either emailed me or posted links to here. I hope I can catch up over the next few days.

And about that term "passed away." I'd never really thought about how accurate it is for the specific moment, the process, of death. You look at someone who was alive a few minutes ago and that's exactly the sort of phrase that comes to mind: passing, departing, leaving. It's a moment when you have an intuitive sense of the existence of the soul--you catch a glimpse of it in the fact of its absence.

Nothing you can't explain away if you choose, of course.