Here’s to You, Sue

I found out yesterday that a close family friend passed away from uterine cancer.  She was 63 and had been sick for a long time.  My stepmother informed me earlier in the week that Sue was in home hospice and not expected to live longer than another month.  I, of course, procrastinated buying a card because really, what the heck do you write in a card to someone in hospice.  “Sorry your luck sucks” or maybe “I hope your death is fast and painless.”  I have a seriously bad habit of putting off things that make me uncomfortable, so of course I never got the card in the mail and now it’s too late.

Sue was an artist.  She painted new age soul mandalas (I think that’s what she called them).  Every painting was different and based on the person it was for.  She also made the stained glass window at the Unitarian church she helped form.

I find myself filled with regret for not talking to her more the last time I saw her, not calling, not visiting, and not sending that stupid card.  She seemed fine at Christmas and she’d been diagnosed with cancer so long ago that I had all but forgotten about it.  I had these same feelings after my grandmother died in 2005 because I had meant to call her the day she died.  I think it’s time to start treating people like every time could be the last time I will see them.  As in, treat them so they know I care and tell them how important they are.

What do you think, internet?  How do you cope with hard life events?