Well it's been a tough few weeks for me. My grandmother was fading, and then passed away on Labor Day. On Tuesday this week, one of my cousins (first cousin to my mother) passed away from cancer. He was 67, and the local paper in New Hampshire wrote a couple of articles about what a hero he was.
There has also been the death of Patrick Swayze, and Mary Travers. Mary of course was famous for her time with "Peter Paul & Mary". As a young child I loved "Puff" played on my step-father's reel-to-reel tape player over and over.
There have been others who have died this week too. I saw in the obits a woman named Ann-Marie who was my age, maybe a year older, leaving behind a child. Not sure what the cause of death was, and I did not know her, but sad to see none the less. It's hard to accept these things.
Death is always with us. Babies are born every day, and people of all ages die every day. My grandmother was a role model to me. I'm sure Patrick, Mary, and my cousin Dan, and Ann-Marie were role models to many too.
So what can I take away from some of this? I hope that to my daughter I will be a role model too. My daughter will not have the grandparents I had growing up, but maybe if she has kids some day, they will have a grandmother who they look up to. It's up to me to do my part to try to give my daughter that. It's up to me to be the best I can be, and be a good wife and a good mother, and put my best foot forward. No sense on dwelling on myself when there is work to be done.
Work by the way is slow. Conditions near my desk are unpredictable and at times very non-conducive to actually being productive, but I show up every day anyway. That's the best I can do.
