Thursday, March 15, 2007

Gratitude is Gone

Gratitude is now gone from the page. It took up a lot of room, and it irks me to look at it when I am not in a good or grateful mood. Now to imply that I am not grateful, no, not at all. Maybe it is just a gut reaction to visiting a friend last night. We have known each other for more than 30 years. We were neighbors in Berkeley. Our husbands were close friends, too. Our children were born at the same times. We shared baby clothes, recipes, sewing patterns, knitting yarn. Her son and my oldest daughter have been best friends since birth. She was a gifted textile artist, distance runner, spelunker. Tall, blond goddess-type. She has MS. Progressive. Relentless. It robbed her of her balance, muscles, speech, and much of her good sense (and sense of humor). It left her with seizures. Her extremely dear husband cared for her at home until his death this last May. Because she needs 24-hour nursing, her children moved her to a care facility close to them so that they could see her every day. She is now in the hospital -- urinary tract infection that became septic, increasing and difficult to control seizures, and an antibiotic-resistant infection in the lungs.

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