Guest Blogger: My Mom

A few days ago, Michael was going through some of my old books on a bookshelf in our basement. He was fascinated by some of the bigger books ( particularly one that had about 3000 pages ), so I decided to show him my copy of the complete works of Shakespeare ( a book I bought more than 20 years ago ). When I opened this book, I made two discoveries:

1) I found an old ornate envelope which contained a wedding invitation to my parent's wedding, along with a Mass book for their wedding Mass.

While that was certainly cool, I thought the second discovery was cooler.

2) I found the letter below:

This is a letter my mother wrote to her friend Kathy when Kathy was diagnosed with breast cancer. I'm not sure how this letter got in the Shakespeare book. My guess is that Kathy gave the letter to my Dad after my Mom died ( August 1996 ) and before my Dad moved out of our family home in Queens. I was already married and out of the house by this time, but a lot of my stuff, including my Shakespeare book, was still there. I'm not sure if my Dad put the letter in the book or if I did when I was clearing my stuff out of the old house ( when my Dad sold the Queens house about about 10 years ago ), but I never recalled seeing the letter before, and it was nice to find.

It was nice to see my Mom's handwriting again.

It was nice to "hear" her words again via a letter.

Most of all, it was inspiring to be reminded of what a good person my Mom was. Here she was, suffering from the ovarian cancer that would ultimately kill her, and she took the time to comfort a friend. I think I've accomplished a lot in my life up to this point, but I really hope I can live up to my Mom's example some day. So, without further ado, I'm going to turn the rest of this blog post over to my Mom:

Dear Kathy,

I'm so sorry to hear of your illness. I guess you know I have ovarian cancer. I just want you to know I have met so many women who have breast cancer and are doing great. One woman had the cancer invade her lymph system; that was 14 years ago and I'm glad to say she's happy and very healthy.

Barbara waited two years before she had her breast checked. The tumor was as big as a baseball; it invaded the muscle of her chest. After her operation she was given chemo, then radiation, and then more chemo by pills. This March it will be 13 years and thank God she's doing great. So please don't give up; cancer can be beaten. Keep thinking of all the people who are getting well. I know you must be scared about your treatment. But remember everyone is different; some people don't get sick on chemo. Barbara was expected to get sick and she didn't. She just got a little tired.

I just want you to know we are all praying for you. Let your family's love and your friends help you through this difficult time.

Love,

June