A Blessed Assurance
by Joseph Weilenbeck
2009
The first hint of daybreak began to show at the window. The
lights of the monitor next to Dad’s bed had been the dominant source of light
for the past eight hours. A dim light
over the sink had provided barely enough light to read. And muffled sounds of the hospital staff at
work had occasionally penetrated the stillness of the room. It would be one of the longest nights of my
life. But, far too quickly, it came to
an end. As the light outside the window
slowly began to grow brighter, the sounds of life-sustaining breath I had been
intently listening to throughout the night grew noticeably weaker.
