Was ‘taking a spiritual journey’ a polite way to say “She’s Dead”?

Since there’s no Miss Manners for the Buddhist set out there for me to pose this question to (or at least one that I’m not aware of), I have to ask you to weigh in on this.

Late in the summer, I was working on a wedding guest list and I added a person on my list who I had participated in a “One Year to Live” study group with a few years ago. She is/was well into her 80′s and I adored chatting with her on our trips home from our sessions as she was so very engaging and present. I sensed that she didn’t have a large social network so I really made it a point to call and check in on her often. Occasionally, we’d meet up and my goofus of a dog would entertain her with his antics.

I gave her a call and a strange voice answered. I didn’t get much help from the voice at the other end of the line as to the whereabouts of my friend. I called back as the thought that she’s died passed through my mind. Same voice except a bit more terse. No additional information for me. I then contacted the facilitator of the course as she also maintained contact with my friend and she had the same thought as I did. She gave me a number of someone who was very close to my friend who I could contact to see if she had heard from her, so I gave this lady a call.

It took me back to when my first pet, a striped cat was too much to take care of and my folks didn’t want to break my heart and say that they gave him away to the neighbors, so they told me he went to a better place. My interpretation was quite advanced at that age to think that he died, when in fact, he had merely switched to a more cat-hospitable home with tastier vittles.

The voice at the end of the line told me that my friend was on a “spiritual journey” and I wasn’t able to reach her. Why is it that these 2 words together always get me a bit suspicious?

I think this is my new koan. What is the sound of one missing 80 year old who’s dropped off the face of this earth?

I’ve been working with my reactions to the words ‘spiritual journey’ and to not being able to contact someone (which is quite a bit similar to having the ‘cosmic phone line cut’ and the person being on the ‘other side’).