A Painful Life is Still Worth Living
Crow’s Feet Prompt #18: Major Changes in Life
When I was dating my husband years ago, he told me a story about his UPS career and I quipped, “I was in the 5th grade!”
He didn’t mind that at all. We had something significant in common: our honoring of “the truth.” Bob was 12 years older, and we knew that going in.
That embrace of truth no doubt informed his approach to three cancers. I started losing him in 2016 when he had an esophagectomy. No radiation or chemo, just massive weight loss and life adjustments.
Then two more cancer diagnoses in his last two years. Chemo, radiation, feeding tube. Talk about serious changes, mostly for him, but tough shifts for me as well.
Ultimately, I retired from my college administrator position. A little early, but I’d already started planning for retirement. That matters, you know. He already had an obvious head-start on such planning. He was retired when I met him!
Change is real, and we must plan for it. Change also comes in cycles or phases — some expected, some surprising.
Major changes always happen after major events, like my husband’s death. It wasn’t a surprise, but no less a shock.
Reality is nothing like what I…
