Death - it happens to us all eventually.

I've been mentally preparing myself for my last remaining Grandparent - my Grandma, dying.
She has been sick for a long time now and been in and out of hospital, but about a month ago she had lost the ability to do anything and lay in a semi comatose state, two weeks ago she was diagnosed with lockjaw which meant she couldn't eat or drink and a few days ago she was taken off medication.
Yesterday was her 88th birthday, and as I went to bed I emailed my Dad asking him to text me and let me know if she died. In the middle of the night I woke up with a start (where does that phrase come from?) and looked at my phone to check the time.. a text had been sent a couple of hours previously.. she died on her birthday.. I accept it was her time.. it was a release and I am glad she is not in any pain anymore.
I called my parents and chatted to them, the funeral will be on Monday. I would have liked to have gone, not just to say goodbye/pay my last respects etc but because funerals bring families together. This is a new thing as I have previously avoided funerals but I'm in a different space in my head right now..But its not a matter of being able to pop over just like that.. trust me to choose a country thats as far away as I could be!
This time last year I was in hospital and I saw that look on the nurses faces when they're scared, its something I'll never ever forget.. I remember the panic of alarms going off as my heart slowed down and the blood drained out of me - like one of those scenes from Grey's Anatomy when they run you to theatre with a team of staff around you. But I also remember walking out of that hospital glad to be alive. Life is short and can be taken from us just like that..