From the heart!

My heart is very heavy and I am very sad. On Wednesday my sister- in- law Angela passed away, in her forties of cancer.

I believe that if you can touch just one person’s life in just small way then your entire life will be one you can be proud of. Angela touched my life and the lives of many around her.

Her last message to me was this: “Thank you girl for the veggies I am doing better since you saw me! Sending you a big hug. I have to share that hospice has such awesome peeps coming to see me. I get wound care 2 or 3 times a week, bathe care in the bed with adult diaper changes, PLUS music therapy weekly all covered by hospice!!! Even tho I’m getting better they keep coming…  We are making meatloaf and veggies/mashed potatoes for everybody compliments of you. My tummy is so excited.”

That was Angela. Always finding something to be thankful for, and wanting to feed people. Even at her darkest hour she could find some sort of sunshine!

All of you touched Angela’s life some directly by sending her words/ cards of encouragement when it was the item of the week last year and others indirectly by your patronage. Each week without fail our driver Dana would load up extra produce and take it over to Angela.  Below is a picture of  a note Angela sent after those cards arrived to her last year.  I am not a hug-y kind of person BUT you better believe I am springing a hug on you today, albeit virtually on Angela’s behalf.  

One of the things I loved about Angela was her wicked sense of humor. When we got together we laughed A LOT! Here is her caring bridge from last year saying thank you for the cards. When I read that I think about how much we laughed that day. I was suffering from a really really terribly MS flare up and, indeed, was using my cane and was shaking. We laughed until we cried at the sight of ourselves. It was exactly what I needed. I didn’t know if I would be able to walk again without a cane (miraculously I am walking just fine now!!!), and most of the other people in my life were carefully attempting to learn how to deal with my condition. Diverting their eyes or tearing up when they saw me. Not Angela though, she had no problems talking about the elephant in the room and I appreciated that. Made me feel like she saw me, behind my broken body. As we left she hollered: “See you later crippled.” For which I responded “After while baldy.” Then we giggled, as if our physical conditions were nothing more than a bad hair day.

Life is fleeting, here today and gone tomorrow. I know it is very easy to hear about these things and think that it only happens to other people. That we will live forever, but of course all know: death and taxes. Will get us everytime! All of us, including myself are guilty of allowing life to happen without stopping and being in the moment. Savoring it as though it were our last. So this week let’s take a minute to really cherish the ones we love. Make your swaps, sign off the computer and go hug your babies. Let’s share a meal with someone without our cell phones and how about laugh a little! It does wonders!

Also, Angela asked that instead of flowers people celebrate her life by doing a random act of kindness for someone. This will be our item of the week- a random act of kindness. I will put a little something in your produce boxes next week to help with this. 

 Fom the Heart,