These Days

My goodness, I could not wait for 2009 to end. It did end with the passing of The Targo's grandmother. Well, 2010 is off to a mediocre start, at best.

A little over a week ago, we discovered that my great uncle has lung cancer. Like everyone in my mom's family, he's accepting this as "his lot in life" and doesn't plan to seek treatment. From what I understand, he has a good prognosis, but he's 84 and is "just ready to die." Lord.

Last night, my mom called and her older sister had to be rushed to the hospital. They discovered that her cancer, which has been in remission for nearly 10 years, is back. Or, at least she has cancer. I'm not sure if it's the same thing. I've written previously that cancer has been the curse of my mom's family. Every woman for the past three generations has died of breast, uterine, cervical or ovarian cancer. (With the exception of Great-Grandma Jones... she had some sort of rare bone cancer and died at 88.) Now, my aunt, whose expecting a new grand baby in March, is fighting for her life. It's just so sad, really.

I've begun to wonder in the past few weeks if the ease of the average American life makes us value it less. Because most of us can expect to live into our 70s, making it into middle age seems just fine... and my goodness, if we make it to 80! That's special, but then we're done. Who wants to be that old?

I mentioned before that I have no idea what it's like to be that old, or what it's like to be truly ill. I just feel that life is a fight worth fighting. This fight? It's not mine. I can only be a good niece and love these people and pray for them.