Free

Viveca Lucas, now 89 years old was the last surviving member of her family. She knew her time was nearly up. She'd battled long enough. Cancer, not that anyone said it was, was not a fun experience. Some survived, but Viveca was sure she would not be one of them. But that was ok. She'd lived a full and long life. A life in which she'd had a family, been a wife, been a mother, and had even been a grandmother. Now though, time was getting short.

Viveca had been in hospital many months now, and as she stared out the window at the world beyond, she looked back on her life. She'd had a happy, long full life. That was all she could have asked. She gazed at an old picture of herself from around the time she'd graduated university. 'Yes,' she thought, 'I'm happy. I've led a good life and I'm ready now, whenever the Good Lord wants to take me, I am happy to go.'

On the other hand, Viveca's youngest grand daughter Hannah was sad to see her go, she realised that her grandmother had been in pain and she had been happy to go. As she set a lotus down a calm stream of water in memory of Viveca shortly after her funeral, she remembered that like the gently flowing water, her grandma was now free. Free of pain and sadness. Of anger and regret. Free.