this life...

some days are so hard, and so sad.  you don't usually know the last time you are experiencing
something until it's already over.  changes are constant.  you won't know the last time you will
get to hug someone until you are grieving the loss.

life often hands us challenge and loss and pain.

life is long, i like to tell myself, but of course, this isn't always true.

how does the knowledge that nothing lasts forever and that all of our time is limited, change the way
we approach the world?
it should remind us to live our lives fearlessly,  and to reach for the big and the beautiful moments.
my heart is heavy today for my brother in law on the heart breaking loss of his sister.

Jeanne was determined, always, to find meaning and purpose in the time she had, even as her disease chipped away at so much of what she loved.  even as her own journey was coming to an end she was determined to make every moment count, and she did. i see her now in my minds eye, and i know i will remember her always as a woman who knew all there is to know about living in the moment.
this process of loss makes us profoundly aware of our own fragility.  there is barely a soul among us whose life has not been touched by cancer.  we have all lost someone or supported a loved one through dark hours. there is no remedy for the sorrow of losing someone, nor should there be.  but our only answer to sorrow is to live. look back and remember the ones we have lost, but always moving forward.  move forward with hope and possibility, and love, that is what they would truly want us to do.

rest in peace Jeanne, you will always live in our hearts. xo

love sent, xo