My boss and friend of 9 years passed away last night. He'd been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma last year, but after chemo, thought he beat it. A month ago, it came back, and he was given 3 to 4 months to live - a year if he did light chemo. Bob was not a man to go down without a fight. Last week he was in the office, obviously in pain, but still living like he was never going to end. We all thought he'd somehow, miraculously, beat it again.
And then he wasn't feeling well, so didn't come to work on Monday, and three days later he's gone. I would say without warning, but he had time. He got his affairs in order. He said his goodbyes. I think we're the ones who didn't believe he'd go.
This is the kind of thing that makes us yearn for the happy ending of books. In life, happy endings are hard to come by. The best we can do is handle reality with grace and acceptance.
Farewell, my friend. You will be missed.
I started writing romance after a year of reading them exclusively when my mother died. There is something about the struggle to overcome hardships, challenges in relationships, and finding happiness at the end that brings me back to reading these books over and over again as well as spending hours writing.
ReplyDeleteBob lives on in your memories and from that perspective never dies. Something he did or said will find its way through time. It's true of all of us...
Being remembered, missed, and loved bespeaks of a good life.
Thanks for the kind words, Judith. I'm still mourning, but it will pass.
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