A little background....My mom's brother has been homeless for years. He's an alcoholic. He has spent the last 11 or so years on Springs Rd. in Vallejo. We have tried tohelp him, gotten him SSI and a spot, and he burnt it down drunk. All of my friends, all of my brothers friends, all of my parents friends know and love Uncle Mark, and always stop and shoot him a few dollars when we see him. Uncle Mark was hit by a car in fairfield, and the doctors told us he wouldn't live through the night. That was 6 years ago, and, despite the rod in his arm, leg and back, the metal plate in his head, and the slight brain damage, Uncle Mark made a miraculous recovery and kicked up and down Springs Rd. for years. Lately, I have been worried abuot Uncle Mark, because no one has seen himn, its gettin colder by the day, the last time I saw him he was lookin a little slow, etc. Last tuesday, we found out that Uncle Mark has been in the hospital on Life Support since Oct. 20th (my b-day). He has pnuemonia in both lungs, which has incapacitated him, and he has contracted some kind of rare poison or toxin that has slowly ate his stomach. He looks like a 'floater' from the movies, hella bloated and swollen with sickness (and not the good kind). At first, the doctors said that there was a chance that he could recover, but now they are taking it back. He is on life support, and a feeding tube. We met with the doctors, and a counselor at the hospital yesterday, and we decided that the best thing to do would be to take him off everything and let him go peacefully. So, while I am at work today, I get to let it soak in more and more that today at 6:00, we are taking him off life support. They say that once everything is removed, it should only be a matter of 10 or 15 minutes before he passes. I know that its best, the compassionate thing to do, and that he will be in a much better place, but now the remorse is starting to set in. Remorse that we didn't do more to help. Remorse that he hasn't seen his son or daughter for over 10 years, because they have always been embarassed of him. I know that the feelings are natural, but I am freakin out. How do you say goodbye to someone?? How do you tell them that you are sorry that you were too worried about the quality of your own life, too selfish to step in....? Today is gonna be a shitty day. 