Family

It’s amazing how you can be so far away from people and yet remain connected.  An aunt you see yearly and only talk to once or twice otherwise can mean the world to you.  They are family.  My Aunt Barbara has been battling cancer and is not winning.  She is now consulting with a hospice doctor who has given her the expectation of 3-6 months to live.  Hearing this news was devastating.  I am not close to many of my aunts and uncles, but I hold Aunt Barbara very close to my heart.  She is a tough lady, but a dainty one too.  She has always been very lively and will offer words of wisdom to help in any situation.  She is dying of cancer but is very concerned with my mom’s health.  My Uncle Harvey, Barbara’s husband, is a very strong man.  He is retired military, opinionated, and stubborn.  I am sure knowing he is losing his wife is breaking him but he will never let on.  He owes it to her to be strong, and she owed it to him to fight for as long as she has.  Her suffering has been in vain because the cancer is spreading further and faster than the doctors anticipated.  I can’t even wrap my head around how a woman could be haying in the field alongside the men with a “sinus infection” that ends up being cancer in her naval cavity.  I can’t wrap my head around how a vital woman is suddenly struck down and then beaten down for years.  She has allowed herself to stop fighting and accept her fate.  Now the waiting comes.  I am grateful that I will not have to watch it happen.  I will be praying for her and the ones surrounding her for strength and acceptance.  I will also be praying for mercy.