Crossing the Atlantic on the Surface

MY MOM'S laboured breaths haunt me as I cross the Atlantic to join my four brothers at her bedside. She is 88 and she did not expect to live beyond Christmas.

I have 48 minutes of audio conversations with my mother sitting in the Music folder of the Surface tablet and I wish I had noise-cancelling cans to permit me to listen to those chats I've recorded during my final two visits to Lancaster County. The rolling rural landscape kept its agricultural identity for the 71 years mom has lived on Honeysuckle Lane. She is the neighbourhood elder in all sorts of ways. I hope I can reach her side before she has her final sleep.

[Bernie Goldbach is an elder blogger who uses his Windows Phone as a life blogging tool ]