When to say Goodbye!

This post is not about any famous actor or actress, its about an amazing man that I call Uncle!  Today, my family had to make the hardest decision in our entire lives.  We had to tell the doctors to let my Uncle Ray go.  He has been on a respirator for the last week and under heavy sedation.  Two weeks ago he had surgery to have three stints put in his heart or valves and a pump to keep him alive.  Last friday he was rushed to the hospital in major pain, only to find out that two of the three stints had not held.  It is astonishing to watch someone that has played such an important role in your life fade away.  He was in the Navy for over twenty years, worked for a major eletronic company for the last twenty years.  Has an amazing family and life.  Now as we have all gathered to be around him to make this horrible decision, we all know that it is in the best interest for him to allow him to be free of all the machines keeping him alive.  But my question still is, how do you know when to say goodbye to someone that has been such an important part of you life?  My Uncle Ray helped me through this very ordeal with my Daddy 7 years ago and now we are at the same place with him.  I think that having to make the choice to let a loved one go is the hardest most devastating decision anyone ever has to make.  We as a family we all know that he does not want to be hooked up to machines that are breathing for him, and that is the only way he is staying alive.   So today, we have all made the decision to let him go home.  He will be greatly missed from so many people.  He has touched so many peoples lives.  So today as you look around at your family, hug them and let them know just how very much you love them.  Call your family and let them know your thinking of them and love them.  Because you never know what tomorrow will bring.....