june 1

June 1st marks 3 years that my mother-in-law, Barb, passed away from cancer. She was diagnosed with breast cancer 9-10 years prior to her death. She was given 3-6 months at that time, but managed to beat the odds for 9 years. She was quite the fireball and one to be reckoned with.

After nine years of treatment and remission, and at the same time I married her son, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. For eleven months she fought so hard and for one brief month she beat it, but after numerous set backs and more cancerous pop-ups, it was unstoppable. She passed away in the comfort of her home which is where she wanted to be.

June 1st is a difficult day. One I'd like to forget but one I have to acknowledge. Aside from it being the day she passed, it follows my son's birthday - May 31. We try very hard to make his birthday a happy occasion and it is, but it's also a reminder that she isn't here to celebrate with us.

Here is dh and his mom at Christmas several years ago. They were very close and spoke nearly everyday at least once. You know mothers and their sons.

I love this picture. It's one of my favorites. This was our first Christmas with my future in-laws (of course we didn't know that at the time). This was Christmas 2001 and Barb was quite taken with Jose. She thought he was a well-mannered boy. She didn't have any grandchildren of her own and over time developed the relationship that would have played the part. My heart aches when I look at Cameron and realize she'll never know her very own grandchild and he will not know her. Ahh, she would have loved him so and been so impressed with her son (my dh) by his parenting skills. He's such a good daddy to Cameron.

We miss and think of Barb daily. Much love!