Pasties and Death

For the past several days, the junior class has been heavy into pasty production. On Wednesday I went to slice and dice onions and potatoes. Thursday the pasty production kicked into high gear with some of the kids working until 1:30 in the morning. Apparently it wasn't high-gear enough, as they had to schedule overnight shifts last night that went until 5 a.m. this morning. I don't know what the production problem was, and I don't know if any of the junior class died from pasty exhaustion.

What I do know, however, is that one of my VC parishioners is dying. I was notified on Tuesday that one of my members had had a serious stroke and I was needed at the hospital. I met with a friend of his and his .... lady friend (a girlfriend at 76 just sounds wrong) .... in the ambulance before they transported him to Butte for an EEG and MRI.

I got word Thursday morning that both scans showed almost no brain activity and that family members were being notified. Yesterday morning I heard that both daughters were in agreement to withhold life support and they asked that I be at the hospital.

So I worked my Friday morning pasty shift then went home, had lunch, took a nice long shower with lots of soap and shampoo to try and remove the pasty-onion smell, and then headed up to Butte. I met the two daughters and we had a nice little gathering of family and friends as I led an end-of-life litany.

Pasties and death . . . apparently two things you can count on in the Ruby Valley.