The Visit

I had some really funny material to blog about today, and I intended to get a post written this afternoon. Instead I spent my time doing something incredibly painful but infinitely more important. As I was finishing up my last minute errands before leaving town tomorrow, I decided to visit my friend Beth. She is slowly but surely losing her long, long battle with breast cancer. She "looks" like a cancer patient now, confined to her bed and no longer able to sit and chat with me her living room. Her thoughts are much different from the ones that used to make me laugh out loud. Her eyes are sad, and her voice is heavy with the enormity of what is happening to her. My heart is breaking for her and her family. She has filled an enormous void for me, helping me to understand what my own mother was thinking and feeling as her illness progressed. I have done my best to help her see things from her teenage daughters' point of view. I am completely confident that I know why our paths crossed in this life. After our conversation today, I am also glad to know that our relationship has meant as much to her as it has to me.
She did make me laugh today, just like she always does, when out of the blue she declared, "I have decided that I'm going to croak next week." Without thinking I replied, 'Then I'm glad I came by today!" It hurts me to see such a sweet and gentle soul enduring something so horrible. If there's any justice out there, I'm thinking she should get her wish, even though I'm going to miss her company so very much. Hug the people you love today. It's like I told her...those of us who are "healthy" are rocking right along thinking we have all the time in the world. Maybe we do. Maybe we have years and years to love our husbands and our children well. But maybe we don't. Maybe next week is our week. It's worth considering. And now I'm going to kiss my babies.