Steve's final words were: OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW."

that's wonderful I've head of others with the same reaction. gives one hope!! Thanks for posting!!

I read that last week, what a wonderful thought. Faith is a wonderful thing.

My first thought was that God is forgiving and he loves us all. Thankfully because....

In my second thought I was wondering if Jobs was seeing a colorful fat budda sitting on a golden throne.

Many years ago I had an amazing dream of a place where the color and the aura was so,,, beyond brilliant. I didn't want to awaken from the dream but obviously did and for months didn't tell a soul about it because it was so special and impossible to explain. If our soul goes there, it would be a spectacular surprise. Oh Wow, Oh wow, Oh wow, seems somewhat fitting.

I don't know what he was referring to by saying oh wow, but I know my brother had some very powerful drugs when he was in hospice while dying, drugs which certainly may cause hallucinations, seeing things that aren't there that might cause one to say something like oh wow.

But it's nice to think that he saw where he was going, of course.

You have a good point Oldgardener.

When my mom was dying in the hospital, she would talk about the "other" people in the room, asking who they were, etc. Of course we couldn't see them, and she was on a lot of pain medications and such so who knows what she really saw. I like to think she was glimpsing the other side though. No one was awake when she actually passed (3 AM) so I don't know if she said anything.

I also don't think you have to believe in God to go to Heaven or the afterlife or whatever lies beyond. I think the only thing that matters is that you are a good person so I think it's reasonable he saw it.

Blessed assurance! I loved what Steve's final words were. He saw something great and beautiful.

Maybe what he was seeing was the iPhone 5...

In 1993, my husband got a bacterial infection in his throat & his physician gave him a prescription for some new pills that had just come on the market. Very unlike him, he took two pills that evening rather than one as instructed on the vial. That evening he saw Jesus, his deceased mother, & and many other deceased relatives. He was sure he had died & gone to heaven. All because of one extra pill. That's one night I'll never forget.

Kfca, his level of consciousness may have been at a point that he could receive those visits, or he may have been close to death. I'm glad that he recovered.

Or he may have been overdrugged and hallucinating.

Loved the first line of kfca's post.

I hope that Steve Jobs is resting in peace, no matter what he saw or why he saw it.

When my younger brother was dying, he saw demons - at least that's how my mother described them from his description. He would say, "Oh, look at the wee little one over there! "Sue! (his wife), come in here, look - look at this great big one standing over there!" He was on morphine.

I guess it all depends how one believes...I for one hope that he and I are on the same page...I for one thank him for his incredible gifts to technology..and hope that his OH WOW was for the good he did for all his contributions to earth!

When my mother was dying, she was on morphine, and she kept saying she was seeing my then 4 year old son in the closet (he wasn't there). She also kept grabbing at the air, thinking there were kleenexes floating in the room. But the most disturbing thing was, she called me close to her and she grabbed me and told me that DS was going to have a terrible accident at age 12. She said it was going to be fatal, and she was very distressed about it. She stayed at my house until the last few days, and it was an awful time.

Sorry, this post made my mind wander.

Oh my, Susan. How distressing. Forgive me for asking, but I think you did lose a son, right?

Okay...so I don't know a lot about Steve Jobs. But, forgive me for being ignorant about this question. The statement was:

he'd looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life's partner, Laurene.

What the heck is a "life partner"? Was he married to this Laurene or were they just living together and they had kids?

I'm sorry but I get SO lost on the terminology of today.

SamKaren
your resident DJ

I believe they were married, SamKaren, if it matters to you. My guess is that his sister used the term "life partner" to denote the level of commitment Steve and Laurene had to one another. The act of being married doesn't always guarantee that commitment--some might say especially in some circles.

I've never been one to believe you see into the afterlife before death. You're either dead or you're not (and God would know if you are truly dead). I don't think God's going to give some people a sneak peak or send them back and forth.

With that opinion, it doesn't seem to me Steve was viewing the afterlife. I would bet more likely it was due to drugs or even a physical release of pain upon dying. Regardless, it was nice to hear he seemed happy/at peace upon his death.

Suzieque, no, thankfully I haven't lost a child. Other people here have, unfortunately.

I am in the hallucinations camp. Most people who are dying are on several medications. Pretty sure Steve was given he had cancer.

However if their final comments make their loved ones left behind feel better it's all good.

Most important is a pain free passing.

I'm with wildchild. The last moments before death, who knows
what the brain does. Maybe he was saying "oh ow" because it
hurts. Whatever gives people comfort believing is good enough.
Unfortunately we will never know Steve's last thoughts..

Some of us do, some of us will, that's why it is call faith.

They are words. Perhaps he felt a revelation, a release. People on drugs or in coitus say similar things. We can't *know*.

Given my interest in adoption, I was unsurprised to read how his adoptive status affected Jobs. The biggest fear of every little child is abandonment. At some point, many children wonder if they are adopted. Adoptees experience those realities. This awareness often comes around six or seven, towards the end of the 'magical thinking' of early childhood --"You were chosen." -- but before a child can fully reason why a mother could surrender her baby out of love for it.

Male adoptees often have difficulty loving or trusting women. Anger at the birth *father* is common for both genders. An adoptee's life has been arbitrarily altered from the 'norm' he sees all around him. Insecurity cows some people; some develop an insensitivity to feelings (their own or those of others).

Jobs' adoptive parents had to have struggled. They are described as 'ever-accommodating'. Adoptive parents can feel insecure and 'un-entitled'. This makes it difficult for them to parent well. Their role-insecurity often makes it impossible for an adoptee to discuss his honest feelings about adoption. (Big elephant inhibits family development.)

The myth of 'matching' is illustrated here: The belief that a social worker or baby broker can or will place a child with adoptive parents who are similar to the child's natural parents. Who would 'match' Jobs, the child of two graduate students, to these adoptive parents? Love can't be burdened with everything. Human babies are not interchangeable. If they were, every mother departing the hospital could be routinely issued the baby nearest the door!

Sue, adoptive mother and spouse of an adoptee, steps down off her soapbox...

Oh, Susan, thank you for responding; I'm so sorry that I thought you had lost a child. I can't imagine the grief that those who have go through. Thank God that your mother's prediction was false!

As for Steve Jobs' last words, none of us will know until it is that time for us. For myself, I believe that it will be an "Oh, WOW" for me based not on drugs or hallucinations but on what lies before me. But again, I'll only know at that moment.

It is Alisande, (Susan) who lost a daughter. She writes a beautiful blog named in her daughter's honor.

Thank you, Sjerin. And Carol_in_California lost a son. And there are others......

Sue, your insights about adoption are interesting; thank you for sharing them. You inspired me to look up Steve Jobs on Wikipedia. The article talks about his adoptive father's influence on him (all positive), and mentions that Steve didn't like to use the term "adoptive parents, saying they were his parents all the way. I don't know anything else about the couple who adopted him, but the article made it sound as though it was a good fit in all the important ways.

In my extended family, an adoption of three siblings worked out so beautifully that an adult child of one of those siblings is interested in the genealogy of the the adoptive parents. They feel that connected.

Also in my extended family, I've witnessed an adoption that never should have taken place. I'm certain the child would have done better elsewhere.

I believe in the "Oh Wow! moment....
When I was 16 my 4 yr old cousin died from leukemia. In her last moments,she asked her daddy to take her to the window to see the light. "The man" was waiting for her there.(She was on the 4th floor)There was numerous people in the hospital room with them,my Mom included. Also some nurses. Everyone couldn't get over her insistance to go see the man at the light. There was no light nor any man that anyone else could see.
This was a 4 yr old....she knew nothing about the stories of seeing the light or seeing god before death. So yes,I believe Steve saw something wonderful.And I sincerely hope I see it too when it's my time to go.

Susan, I'm not anti-adoption, I'd just like people to see and accept it for what it is, not think people can 'swap' babies without consequences.

IMO it is strange for an adoptee to do a genealogy on ONLY the adoptive family, however much it might please the adoptive family. Would someone feel threatened by one on genetic family?

My views have been informed by a lot of reading, the reformation within social work about adoption practices, and my experience with hundreds of adult adoptees and birth parents through a search and support group I co-led withh a birth mother for 15 years. Jobs' story has many themes common to people adopted in that era.

I'd hope society can learn to avoid repeating adoption mistakes and making even worse ones, like creating human beings FOR adoption.

Sue, your post didn't come across as anti-adoption--at least not to me.

The adoptive family wasn't the only genealogy the descendant was doing. In this case, the three siblings were given up by their father after their mother died, so they knew who their biological parents were.

The article states those were his last words, before he lost consciousness. Apparently, he didn't die until hours later, but never regained consciousness. So in my opinion, he probably experienced a drug induced hallucination.

I think Jobs led his parents a merry chase! LOL

He spent much of his life avoiding emotional commitment and was a demanding micro-manager at work. He seems to have come to terms with himself later in life -- after finding his 'life partner' and, not incidentally, his birth mother and sister -- but he still dodged contact with his birth father.

Anyway -- enough of my analysis! Sorry to have digressed from the topic of this thread

Sue, I too am adopted and share many of those traits with Steve. I know that sometimes loving me is a very hard job.