My father died this morning.
   In a way, he was already gone, long before today, because he had fallen prey to Alzheimer's more than a decade ago. Today was finally his setting free.
   I had gone to pick up my Mother and take her to see him. He had been steadily declining for the past several days. She wanted to stop at the church on the way there and ask a priest to come there too. My father was raised a Presbyterian buy my mother is a steadfast Catholic, so the priest was much more for her than for him.
   When we got to the nursing home, we were greeted by a cluster of staff members who told us we had missed his passing by "just ten minutes". We went in. The priest did his thing. My mother spent some time by the bedside, crying and praying. When she was ready to leave, she walked out of the room but I stayed back. I opened my copy of "Seth Parker's Hymnal" and turned to "Shall We Gather by the River?". It had been a favourite of my father's and over the last several days, the only time he had seemed to respond to anything was when I sang some hymns to him. Last night I had practised and practised to be sure I could sing that one really well for him this morning. I didn't get a last chance to sing it to him, so I stood by his bedside and sang it instead as a last goodbye to my father, while he made his way to the river that flows by the throne of god.