Navigating Two Very Different Losses
Two beloved parents, gone too soon.
My mom and my stepdad Keith loved to travel. It was their thing. They were so frugal in every other part of their lives — Mom would spend two hours making her grocery list and gathering coupons before every Saturday’s shopping; they both hated buying new clothes, and they drank the cheapest wine they could find; they used every appliance till it fell apart. They scrimped and they saved and then — whoo! — they traveled like travelin’ fools.
Europe. The tropics. Canada. Spring training. Driving trips — they particularly loved state capitals and state fairs, the more off-beat, the better. Family visits. A romantic weekend on the coast.
They collected souvenir magnets everywhere they went, and arranged them geographically on the side of their fridge:
Mom came down with a persistent bladder infection while she and Keith were on a cruise through the Panama Canal. Well, that’s what the doctors thought it was, anyway. By the time they finally diagnosed bladder cancer, several months later, they still thought her prognosis was quite good. “We’re going for a cure,” her cheerful, upbeat…
