Sharing a Little Thought on Perspective

Sharing a Little Thought on Perspective

Last Thanksgiving, I met a lovely couple from New Jersey, visiting Tucson and trying to decide if they'd like to make their retirement home here. She was 60, he was 55. Long story short, end of January, they moved into their new home down in the Corona de Tucson area. It was a newer home, quite lovely, and they made it their own in just a short few weeks.

I'd gotten to know "Anne" quite well through emails - she had a habit of sending a novelette almost every morning, and was a great question ask-er. She asked me so many questions, she said, and I quote "When we began looking for a home in Tucson, AZ, we knew absolutely nothing about Arizona. Cara M. Mancuso made this part of the US as familiar to us as our backyard in New Jersey." Trust me, it was mostly because she asked so many questions!!

Needless to say, we grew close when we met and worked together in person, and she continues her emails to this day. Through them, I received the most distressing of news.

Not a month after they moved to Tucson, her husband was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. They've tried all sorts of experimental surgery - not to mention chemo and radiation. Her last email to me said that they put 70 miles a day on their vehicle, just driving to medical treatments.

To date, NOTHING has worked. They can't sleep due to his coughing, and they can't eat for the stress, worry, and let's face it - chemo messes up your taste buds. This couple knows no one outside of medical personnel, and myself, here in Tucson. They don't have children. They are, for all intents and purposes, alone here.

I don't know what to say. I don't know how to answer her emails anymore. I don't even know what I want by posting this. I just feel so badly for them, and so helpless looking at their circumstances.

Life is fragile. Relationships are precious. I know she is Christian - so I ask for your prayers and I will pass notice of that request on to her. Love your friends and family. Nothing is so bad in our own lives that looking at someone's elses doesn't give a better perspective.

Thanks,