Plato says that swans sing a song just before they die
Evidently you think that I have less insight into the future than a swan; because
when these birds feel that the time has come for them to die, they sing more loudly
and sweetly than they have sung in all their lives before, for joy that they are
going away into the presence of the god whose servants they are.
Plato (428-348 BC), Phaedo, 84e (360 BC)
(trans. Hugh Tredennick), Edited by Edith Hamilton & Huntington Cairns,
Plato: The Collected Dialogues, Bollingen Series LXXI,
Princeton University Press, 1961, p. 67

55— the number of days you lived past your 97th year
Mom's birthday is October 6, 1908 on the lunar calendar which translates to October 30, 1908 on the solar calendar (conversion). I compiled this October 30 web page for Mom's 94th birthday in 2002. Between Mom's 97th birthday, October 30 & December 25 are 56 days. Since Mom died at 12:15 a.m. on Christmas Day, December 24 marked the 55th day which Mom completed past her 97th year.

The Platonic Lambda: The Soul of the Universe is the sum of the two series (Timaeus 35b): Sum of the double interval series (powers of 2) = 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 = 15 Sum of the triple interval series (powers of 3) = 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 = 1 + 3 + 9 + 27 = 40 Sum of the double & triple interval series (Timaeus) = 15 + 40 = 55 “Now God did not make the soul after the body, although we are speaking of them in this order; for having brought them together he would never have allowed that the elder should be ruled by the younger... First of all, he took away one part of the whole [1], and then he separated a second part which was double the first [2], and then he took away a third part which was half as much again as the second and three times as much as the first [3], and then he took a fourth part which was twice as much as the second [4], and a fifth part which was three times the third [9], and a sixth part which was eight times the first [8], and a seventh part which was twenty-seven times the first [27]. After this he filled up the double intervals [i.e. between 1, 2, 4, 8] and the triple [i.e. between 1, 3, 9, 27] cutting off yet other portions from the mixture and placing them in the intervals” (Benjamin Jowett's translation of Plato's Timaeus, 35b)

55 symbolism: I Ching, Genesis, & Dante
Sum of 5 odd heavenly numbers = 1+3+5+7+9 = 25
Sum of 5 even earthly numbers = 2+4+6+8+10 = 30
Sum of the heavenly & earthly numbers (I Ching) = 25 + 30 = 55
Hexagram 55 of the I Ching: Fêng / Abundance (Fullness)
55th word of Genesis (King James Bible) = light
Number of stars (29 stella + 26 stelle) Dante scattered in his Commedia = 55.
(Dante's 55 and the Platonic Lambda)

5 and 5— our hands clapping
After Mom's 10-day hospitalization at Kaiser Fremont at the end of May 2005, the doctor told me that at Mom's age of 96, she may be bedridden from now on. My sister got Mom on hospice care. I visited Mom three times a week in June and wheeled Mom outdoors at Aegis Gardens. We'd play patty-cake with Mom counting to 100 as I lift her arms above her head and sideways, clapping our hands together at the end of each decade. Often Mom would say "Ba Shí" (80) after counting to "Si Shí Jiu" (49), but when I show her my 5 fingers, she'd correct herself and say "Wu Shí" (50). Mom enjoyed our patty-cake hand and arm exercises during the last six months of her life.

5 and 5— fingers touching in prayer
This is the last line of my poem "Speculations on the Soul" (3-20-1993)

Dad's love letter to Mom: "My home is in your heart."
You are dearest to my heart.
I can't tell you all the love I have for you.
You are my treasure, my shining star.
My love for you is true love.
Your home is at Homestead Care,
but my home is in your heart.

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