Last week we learned that a friend--a young, bright, beautiful and healthy friend--was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). She's a wonderful mother and wife; she's bright and witty; she's the kind of friend you want to be and have; she's beautiful; and she's kind. She's has so much to offer the world.
And so, when it comes to blogging, anything I have to say seems ridiculously unimportant.
I've been in a daze ever since I learned about Janae (I'm putting her name here so you will say a prayer, send Holy Water from the Vatican, light a candle, smoke the peace pipe--anything and everything to send her positive energy and love.).
You see, as natural as sick, aging, and death are, there's something insanely unnatural about coping with them.
I don't know if this is a cultural thing--American attitudes toward aging, sickness...? I don't know if it's genetic (I'm just hard-wired to have more anxiety than other people about these subjects? Probably, I've seen the branches on the family tree. LOL!)?
Whatever it is, I find myself struggling this week.
And yet, as I struggle, there are jobs to do, meals to make, people to visit, phone calls to make. It's the most absurd thing, even in the midst of something like this, life continues. How do you find peace when you feel so sad?
Kubler-Ross may say I need to hit the "denial" stage. She'd be right. I skipped it and went straight to the "anger stage."
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Reasons to smile:
