Fleeting nature of life
I hang out in a gardening website quite a bit. Over the years, even though most of us have not met, we have become friends. Recently we lost one of our own, I'll call her Mrs. J. I've hung out there for over 10 years and she was part of the community before I found it.
Mrs. J. had it hard for the last few years of her life but she never let us know. About 3 years ago, her husband, an airline pilot, had to take early retirement because of heart attacks. He fought depression for quite awhile but was coming out of it. Shortly after he retired she started to have mysterious symptoms that took about a year to diagnose. I forget what rare disease it was but it was similar to lupus. They had to fight the insurance company about once a year to continue the treatments that allowed her to continue to be a functioning individual. About 2 months ago, Mrs J posted she was going to have surgery but it was no big deal. It was a big deal and did not go as planned - she never regained consciousness, the family removed life support after 5 days. Our little community of gardeners and gardener wanna bees has been missing her ever since.
Capt. J, Her husband posted yesterday. He has not posted anything since she died. It seems that their only child, a young lady only a few months younger than my eldest, was killed in a car crash yesterday. I may have never met them, but my heart is breaking for this family. K, the daughter would have graduated high school this spring, had already won awards for her writing, was active in school plays (even had one she wrote win a state contest) and was the light of her parents lives.
I feel numb just hearing this.
Mrs. J. had it hard for the last few years of her life but she never let us know. About 3 years ago, her husband, an airline pilot, had to take early retirement because of heart attacks. He fought depression for quite awhile but was coming out of it. Shortly after he retired she started to have mysterious symptoms that took about a year to diagnose. I forget what rare disease it was but it was similar to lupus. They had to fight the insurance company about once a year to continue the treatments that allowed her to continue to be a functioning individual. About 2 months ago, Mrs J posted she was going to have surgery but it was no big deal. It was a big deal and did not go as planned - she never regained consciousness, the family removed life support after 5 days. Our little community of gardeners and gardener wanna bees has been missing her ever since.
Capt. J, Her husband posted yesterday. He has not posted anything since she died. It seems that their only child, a young lady only a few months younger than my eldest, was killed in a car crash yesterday. I may have never met them, but my heart is breaking for this family. K, the daughter would have graduated high school this spring, had already won awards for her writing, was active in school plays (even had one she wrote win a state contest) and was the light of her parents lives.
I feel numb just hearing this.