In That Morning

Monet Gardens Exhibit, New York Botanical Gardens, Bronx, NY

Copyright 2012: singeronthesand

Then the saying will come true:

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!

Who got the last word, oh Death?

O Death, who's afraid of you now?

1 Corinthians 15:55

One of my childhood playmates died today.  Mel and I attended school together from 7th-12th grade.  I remember her so well - prominent nose, huge grin, blond hair.  She was mischievous, fun-loving, smart and a smart aleck.  I lost track of her after high school, and didn't see her again until my 10th reunion.  Along the way, she had two kids, a husband who walked out on her when her kids were in high school, and became a nurse.  She became the parish nurse for the Kettering Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kettering, Ohio.  She also, as I did, contracted uterine cancer, but with the help of radiation and chemotherapy (something I did not have to endure), Mel beat the disease.  

Something (the radiation?) destroyed her bone marrow, however, and she was diagnosed with Leukemia.  She has been fighting that disease for the last four years.  She quit work last fall when she tested with no white blood cell count nor platelets.  On June 19, she had a bone marrow transplant that her body ultimately rejected.  Today, surrounded by her family and friends, she quietly passed to her rest.  

As a cancer survivor, it is always difficult to know someone who loses their battle with this insidious disease.  My heart goes out to her son and daughter, and her many, many friends in the Kettering area.  Rest in Christ, my friend.  I will see you in the morning.