Comfort and Companionship

Felix and Walter doing face masks at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Felix didn't get too many breaks in his fight with Mesothelioma. He spent Christmas in the hospital last year, spent his favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, having emergency surgery to drain fluid from around his heart, and he passed before he would experience another Christmas or New Year's. But he was sent the gift of companionship in his friend Walter just a week before Thanksgiving. Walter was with him almost everyday for 3 weeks in 2 hospitals for the last weeks of his life. In the same calm manner as Felix, he seemed to sense what he needed and provided it without Felix asking. Walter and Felix took turns reading from Cloud Atlas, a book that explores themes of karma and rebirth through the lives of people meeting again and again throughout time, crossing paths like figure skaters. They never did get to finish reading the book, but this quote summarizes the beliefs held in the novel :

Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb, we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future. I believe there is another world waiting for us, a better one. And I'll be waiting for you there.  

Walter was sent to Felix for comfort and companionship, and to Felix's siblings for the same reason