myman is gone

Susan,

I've clicked into the Quick Reply box on this thread several time in the last few days and stared for a minute at the blinking cursor then clicked away, unable to think of anything to say that others hadn't already said better. Your brief tribute to him was very moving. I was particularly impressed that he spent his last year building a house. The disease may have shortened his life but he lived every day the best he could while he was here.

So sorry for your loss.

Susan,

I am so saddened to read about your husband's death from PCa. Here is something I read when my brother died from cancer 20 years ago and have kept in my mind's back pocket ever since. I will share it with you:

'There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it. At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled one remains connected to the other person through it. It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve — even in pain — the authentic relationship. Further more, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.’
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Tim G - Thank you for sharing that - it gave me comfort to recognize where I am in this life right now

Bolo - Always thank you