Sorrow and Loss

In my last post I promised pictures of my Christmas projects,well you know what they say about the road to hell.I was steeped in making my projects at the last minute (terrible habit) when I received the call that I'd been dreading for months.My dearest friend of the last 47 years was in the hospital.You see she had been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer three years ago.She had surgery, radiation, chemo,  and seemed to be fine ...for about six months,then came the chest xray that showed lung tumors,so it was back to chemo. She continued on chemo for the duration of her life.She faced cancer and the horrific treatments with courage, grace, and a sense of humour. She was a fiercely  independent woman, the thought of being dependent on others weighed heavily on her in the last months.She was always more concerned for others then she was for herself. An R.N. by profession, a giver by heart, the people whom she helped in this life professionally and personally was innumerable.Finally her health reached the point that she had dreaded...she would be dependent .I had always known that when she reached that stage that she would not be able to continue.I saw her alive  for the last time on a  Friday, I knew when I looked in her eyes that she had reached the end of her journey.We held hands and hugged we laughed and talked and then I said good bye for the last time, she was gone the following Sunday.I've been walking around in this fog of grief for what seems like an eternity.It is a terrible mixture of profound sadness and relief that her earthly suffering has ended. In this haze I just didn't feel like photographing and blogging about Christmas projects.I'm sorry to have missed joining in on the festivities.Every time something tragic or bad happens I try to understand what lesson I'm supposed to learn. I'm working on that lesson.To my beloved friend I say cheers to a life well done, until we meet again.