Several weeks ago, a mommy friend that I'd known for the past six years past away from cancer. She was 43 years old, leaving twin daughters. I was at her memorial service last weekend and I couldn't stop thinking about all the memories of her or life in general, how fragile and short our lives can be.
She was diagnosed with cancer in the spring of last year. After doing the chemo aggressively, her cancer went on remission and the prognosis looked optimistic. But then, she announced on Facebook last January that she was at Moffitt (cancer center in Tampa) and waiting on her test results after experiencing horrible pain in her lower back. Our fear was confirmed that her cancer came back with vengeance, and that her doctor told her she'd only have a year to live.
Although she was fearful of what would happen to her girls if she died, she was determined to fight and live. She had written up her bucket list and scratched off many of the things that she wanted to do. She flew to Texas to see her long lost friend and took her kids on the cruise. She even reconnected with her ex-husband and took their girls to Paradise Cove in Orlando to swim with dolphins as family. She did all the things she wanted to do but hadn't done before, and she was always smiling, even when cancer spread all of her body and bones and endured excruciating pain. She comforted people around her when she should've been the one to be comforted. She was truly a brave woman with so much dignity.
It's just heartbreaking that her twin daughters no longer have their beautiful mom. She loved them so dearly and her children knew that. And that makes me think of my kids. Her passing was a reminder that your life could end unexpectedly, and that no one can ever know when is your last day on this earth. That's why I want to live my life every day showing my children how much I love them that they mean the world to me.
Thank you Tammy, for teaching me such a wonderful lesson of love.
Rest in peace....
