Mothers, Children, and Cancer

This started out as a Facebook post, and it's actually posted there.  But it got so long, that I realized it would have been better as a blog post.  So I'm duplicating it here.

This moment in time is so busy. I'm trying to negotiate a mortgage and a house purchase. I bought a car. David, Naomi, and I are all moving to new places. I'm closing and consolidating bank accounts. Lydia is finishing one summer school class and getting ready to start a second one, after she has barely gotten moved into a new apartment. I'm grading summer school papers and trying to plan for the fall semester. And Naomi and I chose this month, of all months, to take a trip to England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Amsterdam, and Berlin. I'm behind on filing my taxes because Everly always did that, but thanks to my always-generous mom's help I am getting close to finishing them.

And of course, this is the month, the final three weeks of remembering Everly's decline into and release from pain. In the busyness of this week, it's not always been easy to settle into a calm reflection on Everly's memory. When I can, it has mostly been conversations about what our kids need, and wondering how I can be a good parent without her.

So thanks to Gayla Brown Greeson for reposting from a blog she showed me a long time ago. It is a mother's reflections on her own struggle with cancer and her care for her three sons and husband. Although her life is very different from Everly's, I think she has a similar heart and a similar faith--not identical, but similar. She talks about the ways she can and ways she wishes she could show her love to her children. She talks honestly about the struggles of dealing with cancer fatigue, pain, medicated fog, and longing for release.

It is a beautiful testimony that reminds me of the beauty of Everly in her final months. So I'm going to link three of her postings from the past three months. If you want to read them, they will bring you some thoughts and memories of Everly or of another of your loved ones. They will also help you feel a bit of what she and others go through. And I hope they will give you reason to offer a prayer of thanks for the life she lived in faithfulness to the very end, and a prayer of love for her three children, David, Naomi, and Lydia.

June 29 Post:  Longing

May 21 Post:  From This Side

April 13 Post:  Catching Up