Thanks for your insights, Daima, and your offer of a venting outlet. Both are helpful and very welcome.

My sister's name is Bess, short for Elizabeth, and while I'm not the prayer type at all, either, I appreciate the positive thoughts and energies others invest on her behalf. I appreciate prayers, too, from people with that inclination. I just probably won't ever be one of them.

I have the anger reaction to Bess' illness, too, and I'm sure that'll be part of the grief afterwards. She's only 50 and has so much more life to live. It's just so unfair. She was an elementary teacher, and she has always been very close to our son, who's 20 and in college now. I know she very much wants to see him graduate and start his life, have his own kids. But unless there's a miracle, that's not going to happen.

I'm not lucky enough to have grandkids yet, but I can't wait till I do. I wanted badly to have more than one baby, but it just wasn't in the cards for me. Actually, I can wait a little while on the grandkids. My son has a bit of a "playa" streak, and I currently live in fear that he'll get one of his young lady friends pregnant and ruin both their lives before they're ready for that burden. He went back to school last week, returning early and taking his car, so he can kick up his heels in his new apartment (with a roomate) before the semester starts late this month. He kept referring to the apartment as his "love grotto" all summer, which never failed to make me uneasy. I asked my husband, who went along last week to help him get set up in his grotto, to be relentless in encouraging condom use. Anyway, send prophylactic thoughts, too, Daima, for our overly hormonal, alive-and-well family member!

Nice talking with you, my friend. I'll look forward to more conversation in the future. Peace to you, Daima.
birdgirl73 Reviewed by birdgirl73 on . How early can Cancer strike? Just wondering. I've been smoking cigarettes daily for a little shorter than a year. Quitting is hard. But I have no excuses, when I'm seriously ready to quit I believe I will. Rating: 5