Journey's End

Where do I start...my friend for nearly 25 years Cathy died Saturday morning. She had been in the hospital for over a week but she had actually been fighting cancer for over 15 years. You might think she lost that battle but no, she won it. She asked Heavenly Father for but one thing when when she learned of her cancer - Cathy wanted to live just long enough to see her children, especially her youngest, old enough to take care of herself. That prayer was answered with bonus time to see her youngest married, graduate from college and have a lovely granddaughter with another on the way. Her eldest daughter also has 3 grandchildren.

Cathy's son-in-law immediately began building an in-law suite for her soon after their marriage. Everyone knew at that point Cathy needed to be where she could be lovely cared for. Knowing time was probably short, Robin gave Cathy a birthday gift last year and the gift was a trip to Atlanta to stay with us and have friends come over. You could call it her "farewell tour" and we made the most of it. A couple of years ago, I wrote a piece for one of the "Chicken Soup" books about Cathy and it was very disappointing that it didn't make the cut. Wouldn't it have been great for her to see her story of struggle in print! She did approve the story and was hopeful to see it in print. Oh, well, life doesn't always work out as we plan it but sometimes that's OK. Cathy has lots of friends and a large family in Richmond, Virginia who love her and we will always remember how she lived her life and that will give us all courage to face our own adversities.