The Visits

Within a 24-hour period, we visited these wonderful folk:

93 year old John who fell and broke his hip; he is in a recovery center, but his daughter says he is getting more and more forgetful.

Hal & Pam, friends from many years ago in Idaho.  They have both had their share of health problems, but according to Pam her husband is getting dementia quite badly and quite quickly.

Bill & Cherie.  She was just diagnosed with terminal colon cancer and has maybe a year to live...hard to say.  Her husband is beyond distraught and is struggling mightily with the whole thing.


I left each one of these people wanting to get on my knees with gratitude for good health at this point in our lives.  Health issues just seem to come hurtling down in such a hurry that we hardly know it has happened.

All of these people are older; they have lived good, honorable, long lives, so it shouldn't be such a shock or so distasteful, but in reality it is - it is so hard to see and to know and to be aware of and to witness it happening to dear friends.

And it leaves me feeling rather shell-shocked and frightened and wretched and sad and all sorts of jumbled-up feelings of - "WE'RE NEXT!"

I recently read of a 63 year old who went to sleep and didn't wake up; natural causes, the paper called it.  Although 63 seems young, the manner in which he went seems so ideal.

I want that for everyone I know and love.

Oh, if only it could be so.

But, if onlys rarely come to be.

So, I'll just keep feeling grateful.  Enjoy each day.  Each friend.  Each moment.  Each experience.

And realize...

No one comes out of this alive.

And, then we'll go and visit them again.