My step-mother-in-law called today to say good-bye. She is dying of cancer. Slowly wasting away in her bed surrounded by Hospice workers and her doting husband. It was hands down one of the most difficult and heart-breaking conversations I have ever had. What a beautiful and wonderful person she is. She has had to face chemo four times and it was finally just too much. She can’t eat at all and drinks very little because of a tumor blocking her stomach. Yet she has lived on for the last 4.5 weeks. She and her husband have planned every aspect of the funeral, she has trained him all the duties that were hers, and now they spend each moment together, cherishing one another, and waiting.
She asked to speak to me. She’s been married to my husband’s father for fewer years than I have been married to my husband. We met maybe 5 times? A very sweet, intelligent, warm, giving woman who investigated and became a member of the LDS church and married Truman (father-in-law) in the temple. Truman told me today that her “testimony is strong and she knows where she is going.” I”m happy for her. But I didn’t know what to say to her. I choked up. They described their time together; she told me that her loving husband was stroking her forehead and smiling at her and that she was so very blessed. I told her I wished I could be there with her. I couldn’t choke anymore out.
I wanted to tell her that she has been a rock to my husband and I, despite our distance. I wanted to reach out and hug her and hold her for a really long time. But all I could say was, ” I love you.” I hope it was enough.
