Beginning of a massive update...
Not even words for how much has transpired between my last post in March of 2007 and the present.
The first thing that comes to mind is that although Lenore was well on her way to beating a rare form of small-cell cancer in her cervix, and underwent laproscopic surgery to successfully remove a chemo- and radiation-shrunken tumor, the cancer spread to her brain. At the end of May, 2007, she was given weeks to months to live. We went up to her house to visit her June 1-3rd, help Frank in any way we could, and sort of say our goodbyes. It was one the hardest things I've ever done. I could barely talk to her because I was so upset. It just made me so sad and angry to see her lying in the hospice bed in their sunroom. She was thin and pale and bald, except that the steroids she was on made her face all puffy. It wasn't *my* Aunt Lenore any more, and it was shocking and so terribly unfair. I'm so glad that we made it up there to tell her in person one last time that we loved her, and to say goodbye. She died the evening of June 3rd (six days before her 59th birthday) with her husband by her side. Her funeral was the following weekend, and it was a really touching event. It managed to make me smile because it was held in a church, with the sit down-stand up-sit down-stand up routine that goes with it, and I had no idea what was going on...which was made worse by the fact that we were in the frontmost pew so everyone could see how lost we were, haha.
Noree was cremated, and uncle Frank scattered her ashes in the Hudson River in an area she'd long loved.
The Albany Rowing Crew, for which she used to row with some other feisty older ladies, named a racing shell in her honor.
I miss her more than I have the words to express, and I want to thank everyone who sent their condolences or hugged me or gave me a tissue when I cried. I still can't believe she's gone - it seems unfair to have such a loving and dynamic woman gone from the world. She accomplished so much in her too-short lifetime. She pursued her interests and passions, and worked hard in order to retire early and free up her time to row, garden, hike, bike, read, and play the recorder & piano - or anything else that struck her fancy. She was a smart, funny, and strong woman, and I hope that I can follow in her example to be as intelligent, strong, active, and interesting a woman as she was.
Life is an adventure - look around and see what there is to see. Then if you find something you like, go with it, and make it work. Don't make excuses about making time for it later, because we never know how much time we'll actually have...life's for living - make it count.
The first thing that comes to mind is that although Lenore was well on her way to beating a rare form of small-cell cancer in her cervix, and underwent laproscopic surgery to successfully remove a chemo- and radiation-shrunken tumor, the cancer spread to her brain. At the end of May, 2007, she was given weeks to months to live. We went up to her house to visit her June 1-3rd, help Frank in any way we could, and sort of say our goodbyes. It was one the hardest things I've ever done. I could barely talk to her because I was so upset. It just made me so sad and angry to see her lying in the hospice bed in their sunroom. She was thin and pale and bald, except that the steroids she was on made her face all puffy. It wasn't *my* Aunt Lenore any more, and it was shocking and so terribly unfair. I'm so glad that we made it up there to tell her in person one last time that we loved her, and to say goodbye. She died the evening of June 3rd (six days before her 59th birthday) with her husband by her side. Her funeral was the following weekend, and it was a really touching event. It managed to make me smile because it was held in a church, with the sit down-stand up-sit down-stand up routine that goes with it, and I had no idea what was going on...which was made worse by the fact that we were in the frontmost pew so everyone could see how lost we were, haha.
Noree was cremated, and uncle Frank scattered her ashes in the Hudson River in an area she'd long loved.
The Albany Rowing Crew, for which she used to row with some other feisty older ladies, named a racing shell in her honor.
I miss her more than I have the words to express, and I want to thank everyone who sent their condolences or hugged me or gave me a tissue when I cried. I still can't believe she's gone - it seems unfair to have such a loving and dynamic woman gone from the world. She accomplished so much in her too-short lifetime. She pursued her interests and passions, and worked hard in order to retire early and free up her time to row, garden, hike, bike, read, and play the recorder & piano - or anything else that struck her fancy. She was a smart, funny, and strong woman, and I hope that I can follow in her example to be as intelligent, strong, active, and interesting a woman as she was.
Life is an adventure - look around and see what there is to see. Then if you find something you like, go with it, and make it work. Don't make excuses about making time for it later, because we never know how much time we'll actually have...life's for living - make it count.