Linda has decided to refuse any attempts to prolong her life.

Someone just asked me how she did this: They (presumably Don) asked her whether she wanted a ventilator, and she would have indicated no by rolling her eyes down. I do not know the particulars of the conversation, but she made her wishes very clear, through looking up or down.

I am sure that Don is relieved that Linda was able to make her own decisions.

Linda's sister Mary has been with her all morning.

I was talking to a friend this morning-- everyone is going to have their various thoughts about how to interpret all of this. I don't think any of us are wrong-- and I hope you don't think I am.

I keep thinking of a story I read by Primo Levi about an experience he had during the holocaust. The Jews had been lined up for dispersement to the gas chamber. Levi survived the selection process, and was back in the barracks when he heard an old man praying, thanking God that God had shown mercy on the man by passing him over.

Levi barked at the man, "Don't bring God into this! To suggest that God has spared you implies that God killed the others." Or something to that effect.

Someone told me just now that they are still praying for a miracle for Linda. I said, "Do not discount the idea that this is the miracle."

Maybe that sounds really harsh-- but it's the miracle I was praying for, because scientifically, medically, relief from this hell is the best we could hope for. I would not doom her to years of fighting infections in a long-term care facility. Nobody would doom her to that-- but I guess my strength is not strong enough to believe in a recovery complete enough to overcome the hell.