Scott Simon on tweeting death: ‘Dying is really the one universal experience’

Scott Simon’s mother died last Monday evening, a death the NPR radio host shared with followers on Twitter.

“The heavens over Chicago have opened and Patricia Lyons Simon Newman has stepped onstage,” he tweeted.

In an interview with ABC on Sunday, Simon said he thought there was something that needed to be shared from his bedside vigil.

“I would sit there at her bedside, I would hold her hand, things would occur to me. And it was also a way of me taking notes. It was also a way of me keeping this experience. Dying is really the one universal experience. It’s something we’re all going to have.”

The NPR host has continued to share his experience with his some 1,265,000 followers:

You wake up and realize: you weren't dreaming. It happened. Cry like you couldn't last night.

— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) July 30, 2013

Cemetery at first confuses my mother w/ another Patricia. Almost interred next to total stranger. Why not make new friends?

— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) July 30, 2013

So much important flotsam in the wake of a life. USPS says fill out change-of-address for deceased. Wish I knew to where…

— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) August 1, 2013

Our 6yr old sits on lap w/ us. I say, "This is what life is all about–the small things." She says, "I'm bored." Reality.

— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) August 1, 2013

Our children want to know if you're dead forever. I tell them yes. But I wonder about that too.

— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) August 4, 2013

The tweets are in full on Simon’s Twitter page @nprscottsimon.