A Very Special Anniversary

            Today is a very special anniversary. It is a date that I don’t like to celebrate, but an anniversary none-the-less. March 23, 2003, my beloved wife, passed away. She had been feeling ill with upper respiratory symptoms for about a week. Her wheezing was getting worse and I gave her no choice, it was time to be seen in the emergency department. After much testing, it was determined that she had fallen victim to the silent killer, ovarian cancer. It had quietly invaded her body to the point, little could be done. Ten days later she was in the loving arms of Jesus. Cynthia “Cindy” Beck had passed through the veil from life into death and heaven beyond the shadows.

            The irony of the date is the second anniversary that I am forced to celebrate. It is the anniversary of my mother, Sybil June Beck.  After many years of her mind and body being held captive by the insidious disease of Alzheimer’s disease, she died on the third anniversary of my wife’s passing. March 24, 2006, we knew that she was free of the shackles of the terrible disease that stolen her mind and ravaged her body for so many years. It had gotten to the point that she couldn’t remember how to eat.

            There is sadness, but there are also blessings. In the brief window Cindy was so ill, she had no pain. It was difficult for those left behind, but in retrospect, she didn’t have to suffer the agony and pain of so many cancer victims.

            After so many years of not knowing what was going on around her and the horror of having her memories swallowed up and lost into the black hole of Alzheimer’s, my mom was free and able to be the wonderful woman that we remember.

            Though neither of them are still here, their memories live still in the hearts and minds of those who knew them.