Book Of Likes Faces

This depressing topic is eating at me, but lately am I seeing a lot of ladies posting "My person just died". Our men seem to be dropping like flies faster than their grandparents did.Love them while you have them! My husband of 18 years was diagnosed with rectal cancer. It was horrid. But he survived, just barely. Tons of complications-sepsis, C-Diff, blood clots, an ostomy. We had a few really good years and then found that the cancer metastasized to his lungs and his brain. Huge tumor on the cerebellum that required surgery. He'd just taken a job working on Blue Origin, the rocket that Bezos was funding. He was a brilliant engineer. His prognosis was decent until they found "at least" 12 more tumors and lesions in his brain that were not able to be treated surgically. Radiation rendered him unable to walk. Chemo for the lung cancer made him so sick. I was his caregiver for a long time and it was my honor to be able to do it, but it was exhausting and it wore me out in a way that I can't possibly describe. I'm 56 and feel like I've aged 20 years in the past few years. My husband died about a year and a half ago after a really long fight to stay alive. You never really think it's going to happen until it happens. And it's so much worse than you think it's going to be. He was my best friend and I miss him with my entire soul. Remember everyone, get medical check ups regularly! #healthcare

“Before I was 6 years old, my grandparents and my mother had taught me that if all the green things that grow were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the four-legged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all the winged creatures were taken from the earth, there could be no life. If all our relatives who crawl and swim and live within the earth were taken away, there could be no life. But if all the human beings were taken away, life on earth would flourish. That is how insignificant we are.” - Russell Means, Oglala Lakota Nation

My mom doesn’t do everything exactly the way I do. She feeds my children different foods, offers different drinks. They do different things together than we do at home. Sure, sometimes it seems excessive. I mean, does my 3 year-old really need McDonald’s AND cookies AND marshmallows toasted over their backyard campfire, all within 24 hours? But here’s the thing—it’s only for a few days. Or sometimes just a few hours. Maybe my kids will come home wired. That’s definitely a possibility. Maybe it will take a day or two to get her back into our home routine. But they will ALSO come home loved, happy, and full of new memories shared with Grandma —memories they will treasure. Their grandmother won’t always be with us. And when she leaves one day, those memories will be all my children have. So please . . . show grandparents some grace, if not for their sake, for your child’s sake. Your child might be thrown off their routine for a short time, but will gain adaptability, treasured memories, and even more love than you alone can provide them.