Passages

My cousin June lost her battle with breast cancer this morning.  She was first diagnosed 10 years ago, treated, and went into remission.  In 2008, she was diagnosed with acute leukemia, probably brought on by her chemotherapy for her breast cancer.  She was treated for the leukemia in Houston and went into remission.  But the doctors now believe that her breast cancer had returned by then as well.  But the doctors weren't looking for breast cancer, and she wasn't diagnosed Thursday of last week.  She died peacefully; she simply stopped breathing.  As I sat with her mother and sister, I thought about the three cousins, so close in age, born during World War II.  Judy, Gerry, and June, all gone too soon.  Is it just a coincidence, or was there something about that difficult time when they began life that made their bodies more fragile?

We had another death in the family this week.  Uncle Curley died on Thursday after living a long and full life.  His funeral will be on Monday. 

Although the sun is shining, and it's a beautiful day, it's a sober morning, their deaths a reminder of the uncertainty of this world.  It's also a tired morning.  I'm not able to function very well any more after losing a night's sleep.

Before I sign off, however, I have to relate the story of Cindy and the calf.  She and her husband went to an auction, and she was surpised to learn how low the prices were on calves.  She insisted that they buy a small one, sure that she could hold the calf on her lap for the drive home.  Remember Marley and me?  She rolled down the window so the calf could get some air, and he promptly tried to get out through the window.  She grabbed in, pulled him back inside the truck, and rolled up the window.  He then tried to exit through the windshield, pushing it out.  Try as she might, she could not pull him back into the truck.  Her husband had to grab him and pull him back inside, where he knocked the rear view mirror off the windshield.  The windshield more or less went back into position with a large bulge in the glass from his head.  So back home they drove, Cindy, her husband, and the calf, with both the truck and Cindy the worse for wear.  And apparently the calf, too, for he died a few weeks later.