Cancer.

On September 20th my step-father-in-law, Tom Conley, lost his battle with cancer. He was an amazing man. So generous, so helpful and would do anything to help his family and friends. I started dating Adam just months after Tom starting dating Cindy (Adam's mom), so my entire time as a part of this family, he's been right there too. Months before our wedding, Tom was diagnosed with lung and liver cancer. I was planning my wedding and he was starting an aggressive chemo treatment. He never gave up. He always kept looking for the next research study, the next opportunity that would cure him. Over the summer, we knew things were getting worse, but defeat was never an option. We only discussed the positive side of what hospital or research study to apply to next. When the hospital told us he only had days left, it was difficult to hear. In the back our minds, we knew that the time was nearing, but hearing it makes it that much harder. I'll cry if I continue to write more, but it's been a long few weeks and I'm happy Tom is at peace now and is finally free of pain.  

Two of my friends wrote about cancer over the last day. One wrote about breast cancer awareness (which I agree, we're all aware of it, pink ribbons aren't the only ribbons to be aware of) and the other wrote about sending mail to cancer patients. Both bring up great points, we need to support all the "colors" of cancer and you never know how you can brighten someone's day with a little snail mail. I've been thinking I need to send letters to friends and family more, and today is the day I actually do it. As soon as I buy some stamps...