Nearly fourteen years ago, I was a naive and innocent young girl having a great time in college and then learned my mother had cancer – in her lungs and she was a non-smoker.  For ten years, she battled non-small cell lung cancer and died four years ago at Tuscaloosa, AL’s hospice.  I learned more about cancer, palliative care, family drama, death, and counseling more than I cared to.

Only one year ago, I was on the dance floor with my mother-in-law where I had the DJ play the Electric Slide so that we could both do our favorite thing – together – cheesy line dancing.  I have pictures of us rocking out.  Little did we know that at that moment, the cancer we thought was gone was deceptively making its way through her body.  Once we did know, I used what I learned with my own mother to try and guide my husband.

You see, I thought I could sense when someone would die.  Recently, I learned just how wrong I was.  While I was able to push my husband into taking a few extra trips to see his mother, little did I know he would only get one trip.  One last chat.  One last our current trip would not even be a good-bye.  Instead, it became a trip of making sure my father-in-law was not alone when he discovered his wife died only the day after hospice came to meet the family and let them deal with the grieving process.

If there is something you want to say to someone and are afraid to, pick up the phone and say it.  If there is someone you have held off seeing or calling, go see them or call them.  It is sad that death must be the reminder sometimes of how precious life truly is.  And yes, every minute and every day counts.