Yesterday, Luv and I participated in yet another Cancer Relay for Life. We've been doing this for several years now because it's a cause that is very close to our hearts. We like just about everyone else in the world have lost loved ones to the many demonic faces of cancer, including Luv's mother a few years back. So we walk for the cause and we earn what money we can for the research that we hope will bring a cure sometime soon.

This time we listened to a man that appeared to be in his mid thirties speak of the pain of watching his wife lose her battle in less than 6 months time. He spoke of the difficulty of trying to live as normal as possible while this went on while raising two children, keeping up with his job, spending as much time with her as he could each day. We all sat there and listened, and shared his pain and knew the impossibility of the task that faced him. A nightmare shared by thousands of others at any given time.

...and then he spoke of what makes it possible to get through this - other people - compassionate people. People from church, people from work, people from his neighborhood, friends from all over, distant relatives. People that brought food, people that sent cards, letters, emails of support; people that volunteered to pick up his kids and get them to their sports and school events; people that visited his wife and made sure she knew she was loved and cared about; people that showed up at his house and weeded his flower beds and mowed his lawns; people that were just there for him. It was people that cared that got him through this terrible ordeal.

Today, Luv and I visited her father in the nursing home that he now calls home. He's been blinded by diabetes and has suffered considerable losses over the past year. What does he talk about now when we visit? "His girls" that take care of him and make sure that his needs are met each and every day. Again it's people that get him through a very tough situation.

People that care....I'm so very lucky to know so many of these people in my life and that includes so many of you - my friends here at SP. Thanks for being "these people".

Life is good!
Wood