His Last Haircut

This past weekend was kind of a sad weekend. My step-mothers father, Keith, passed away last Wednesday and we had the services on Sunday and Monday. He has been in my life for for over 20 years and I pretty much considered him my grandfather. It's only been in the last few years that I really got to know him. His wife, Esther, passed away 4 years ago and he was no longer able to fully take care of himself. He then stayed with my parents off and on over the next 4 years. This is about the time that I had moved to Kentucky, but was still coming home on weekends to see Jonathan. I had the opportunity to talk to Keith off and on and heard allllllllll of his stories. Every conversation reminded him of a great story of the past. Then he would aways tag the conversation at the end with some sort of joke to make us laugh.
Well, this past spring, Keith needed to be put into the nursing home because he needed much more care then the family could give. He spent a lot of time traveling back and forth from hospital to nursing home due to Congestive Heart failure. He would do well for about a week or so and then end up back in the hospital for another week. He also had the opportunity to speak with the Pastor of his church while he was sick. She stated that she enjoyed visiting him and assured the family that he felt that he had the chance to get "right with the Lord".
He knew his time was rapidly approaching.
His final days. On Monday he was at the hospital and very tired. He told the doctors that he had had enough. That he was tired and ready to go see his Esther. So on Tuesday, he went back to the nursing home to be as comfortable as the nurses could make him.
On Wednesday, after he woke up, the nurses gave him a bath and cleaned him up good. In the afternoon he told the nurses that he wanted a haircut. That he wanted to look good when he saw his Esther. The beautician arrived to his room and gave him a snazzy haircut, trimmed his eyebrows and gave him a good shave. She finished up at about 330pm.
Keith passed away at 4:30pm, about 1 hour after his last haircut.
I can only assume that Keith new exactly where he wanted to be and was trying to get himself presentable to meet his bride, Esther.
Over the weekend, the family spent a lot of time together crying and laughing. I think we were all comforted knowing that the Lord had taken him home to see his Esther and the rest of his family.