Splash du Jour: Tuesday

In just a few weeks time, when the movie The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is playing in the theatres, thousands... perhaps millions of people will be introduced for the first time to the magic of C.S. Lewis.
Many others of us have known him for years and years. From the moment I discovered his scholarly theological writings and his wonderfully imaginative fiction, I have been devoted to C.S. Lewis.
I think of him especially today, because November 22nd, 2005, is the 42nd anniversary of his death.
On this day in 1963, the same day that President Kennedy was assassinated, C.S. Lewis, or “Jack” as he was affectionately known, passed away at his home in Oxford, England.
The final picture of Lewis must come from his beloved brother, Warnie.
In his memoir, he wrote:

Once again – as in the earliest days – we could turn for comfort only to each other. The wheel had come full circle: once again we were together in the little end room at home, shutting out from our talk the ever-present knowledge that the holidays were ending, that a new term fraught with unknown possibilities awaited us both.
Jack faced the prospect bravely and calmly. ‘I have done all I wanted to do, and I’m ready to go,’ he said to me one evening. Only once did he show any regret or reluctance: this was when I told him that the morning’s mail included an invitation to deliver the Romanes lecture. An expression of sadness passed over his face, and there was moment’s silence: then ‘Send them a very polite refusal.’
Friday, 22 November 1963, began much as other days: there was breakfast, then letters and the crossword puzzle. After lunch he fell asleep in his chair: I suggested that he would be more comfortable in bed, and he went there. At four I took in his tea and found him drowsy but comfortable. Our words then were the last: at five-thirty I heard a crash and ran in, to find him lying unconscious at the foot of the bed. He ceased to breathe some three or four minutes later.

On his brother’s tombstone Warnie had cut those words which were found on the Shakespearian calendar the day their mother died – ‘Men must endure their going hence.’

Mr. Lewis, I named my firstborn after you. [Jack, the cat].
You are not forgotten today, or ever, really.

Have a great Tuesday, world!