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Scott Simon, host of Weekend Edition Saturday on NPR, is a master essayist and storyteller. He's telling a compelling story now on Twitter: the imminent death of his mother.

https://twitter.com/nprscottsimon/status/361407311979364352

He started a couple of weeks ago when he got a phone call from his mother while on vacation. "I'm surrounded by handsome men," she said. She was at the hospital awaiting emergency surgery for an undisclosed illness. He was on vacation and headed for the hospital.

Apparently, he's been sleeping on the floor of a Chicago hospital, on an air mattress he had to buy.

https://twitter.com/nprscottsimon/status/360951996699787264

These last few days, things turned darker.

https://twitter.com/nprscottsimon/status/361468328633581568

But Simon kept telling the story, noting that he tells his mother millions of people on Twitter love her.

https://twitter.com/nprscottsimon/status/361675057887576064

His mother dispenses advice, like "pay attention to people in their 80s. They've been staring at death for more than a decade and know what's vital."

Early this morning, he tweets that he can only hold his mother.

https://twitter.com/nprscottsimon/status/361716002561601536

Around breakfast today, he acknowledges her death could come at any moment. A nurse says hearing is usually the first to go. So he sings to her.

https://twitter.com/nprscottsimon/status/361845309845934081

https://twitter.com/nprscottsimon/status/361920729438101504

Scott Simon's mother, Patricia Lyons Simon Newman Gilband, appeared on his show once -- November 22, 2008 -- when she told him her story.

"It's been a beautiful journey  knowing you," she said.

He started crying and said, "I love you."

NewsCut

Bob Collins

Author

Scott Simon, host of Weekend Edition Saturday on NPR, is a master essayist and storyteller. He's telling a compelling story now on Twitter: the imminent death of his mother.


As death approaches, Tweeting a mother’s goodbye

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