To God

This poem is in honor of my mother-in-law who has passed away on March 25th, 2015. She had liver cancer, and was given less than a week to live, but somehow managed to survive for over a month, since her final diagnosis.

This is that last thing she wrote, 1 week before she passed:

I've been ill. Time to begin the hard work of learning to walk again and clearing the puddly out of my brain.

Thank god family and friends are pulling me through slowly but surely.
You may get good care at the hospital, you will get good care from Hospice, but none of it equals the care from family.
John, no complaints ever, has kept me clean, dry, fed,even if I could or would only eat two bites.
Jane's cool hand, love and soothing voice are reassuring.
Chad as usual gave his steady support keeping us on the rails.
Bill and Denise looked for a cure with continued support and love.
Grandsons Dustin and Drew gave great comforting love, support and priceless knowledge.
Last but never least Kasey and Isaac, thank you for your love and support as your studies would allow.
A special thank you to the Seymour, Terrill , White, Smith and Shoen families. They always knew what to do and when to do it. Also to my island buddy Pam Ross, cousin. Friends Bill and Sue Cain and the Hurd Family.
The worst I've learned about myself through this is that, lying in bed doing nothing is definitely NOT my forte. The long dark hours of night will turn on you and if you're not careful, "I can't" may turn to "I don't want to."
The best I've learned is how good a shower can feel, using your own commode, the ability to walk two steps and having the strength to **** a straw.
I've a hard road to a hopefully descent recovery. (For a while anyway) Thank you all for the hand you are playing in it.
Too bad our wounded warriors must fight these battles daily.



She battled with every fiber of her being, everyday, just to get up, and she didn't like lying in bed all day, doing nothing.



The sad part about this, is that when we visited her for the last time, she wanted everyone to say their last good-byes to her. She went from the brink of death, within a week, to rebound, just long enough to thank everyone for supporting her through her illness.

The photo that you see above, is a photo of my mother-in-law, taken back around Christmas time in 2013. She was a very happy woman, with lots of love to share. I miss her already.

letter 24 out of 30.
extremely overdue.

One of the most interesting reads in literature is the opening chapter of Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" where he takes an accounting of every person who had touched his life and made him the man he was...and thanks them.

If it were up to me that book would still be required reading in high school but sadly we no longer give our kids the tools to become full actualized adults who can think for themselves anymore...we teach them to take a frickin test.

AND we will pay for such miserliness.

For my Dad