Life - It's a precious thing

Well, this has been a week to end all weeks.

I have had a wake-up call as to the fragility of life ... the ever changing situations that will remind us that we are human.

This week a good friend has been told she has lung cancer. Just a week ago I was at her house and she said she had a cold. It wasn't a cold. It was/is a prominent tumor in the upper lobe of her right lung. Turns out that what made her feel like it was a cold was that the left lung showed nothing by pneumonia. No wonder she felt like crap.

Now she will endure 28 weeks of chemotherapy and radiation in an attempt to live long enough to see her grandson get to his first day of school. He's only a year old now.

In an effort to place her and her family in a healthier atmosphere my husband and I offered them a house that we have had come vacant recently. They will move in in 30 days. At least now there will be room for a wheelchair should she need one, and decent heat and air conditioning. The home they have been renting for the past 17 years is a carbon monoxide trap that their slumlord doesn't seem concerned about.

Oh yeah ... did I mention this friend is only 48 years old?

And then today I learned that a wonderfully talented lady, Karen George, that blogged on Active Rain, succumbed to breast cancer. Karen had fought a valiant battle, but alas it was time to go. Her wisdom and knowledge will be missed, but it's her vibrant smile and never-ending willingness to help others that defined her.

Mortality is a horrible monster that hides behind many masks. But when the mask comes off ... all I can say is

There but for the grace of God go I.