Tribute

A Jay and Deb Production.

There have been many losses in the blogosphere recently. If you visit Jay's site, he mentions 2 sweet little ones who lost their battles with cancer, Tuesday and Cora. Losses from cancer are horrible. I have lost 2 people in my life to cancer so far. My oldest brother passed away in August of 2007 from a combination of brain and liver cancer at the age of 53. We didn't see each other much, but I miss him terribly.

The other person is who I'd like to pay tribute to. When the ex and I were having problems back in 1995 (the kids and I spent a week in a woman's shelter, I came back east and then went back..), there was a woman who lived in our apartment complex that, basically, saved my life. Shelia lived a couple doors down from us with her husband and son. In addition to physical abuse, I was verbally and emotionally abused and not allowed much contact outside of my own house. But, he did like Shelia and her family and I was "permitted" to visit. If I recall correctly, the ex worked swing shift, so I would go visit sometimes when the kids were in bed. I also went their apartment in the afternoon with the kids. The kids adored her and she, them. She would watch them for us if needed.

We talked about lots of stuff, not just personal stuff. One thing that she loved to do was watch Court TV. The OJ Simpson trial was a highlight for her...lol. We discussed religion, we both were raised Catholic, and fairness etc... She was diagnosed with breast cancer in the 80's before I met her. She had a partial mastectomy then and was fine. We move a small distance away from her in 1999. Right before we left, she was diagnosed with breast cancer again, but it also ended up traveling to other areas of her body. The kids and I tried to visit her in Dec of 1999, but her husband told us she was sleeping. We never got to say goodbye...she passed away in January of 2000.

I will never forget her and what she did for the kids and me. A couple years ago the kids and I did a Relay for Life and bought a tiki torch there in memory of her. She was a wonderful lady and I miss her to this day.