Can brain cancer bring peace?

As you know, last week my cousin was diagnosed with brain cancer.  This was, of course, devastating to all of us around her.  But what about her?

Well, she is as happy as she has ever been, from what I can tell.  I know, it sounds crazy, right?

Well, you have to know some background on her.   She  has always looked at the downside of life.  To be honest, I’m not sure why.   From what I know, she never had the type of abuse that I did.

I looked up to her when I was a child.  She is 8 years older and read teen novels which she let me borrow.  She had a much better Barbie collection and she gave them all to me when she outgrew them.  She was just so much fun.  Our moms are twins and she was like the sister I had always wanted (as she was much closer in age to me than any of my siblings were.)

Over time, though, she fell off of the pedestal I had placed her on.  She married a man and had a son, but then she was unhappy in that marriage.  So she embarked on an affair with a married man.   She left her marriage, but he stayed in his.  This went on for the next 14 years.

While all of this was going on, my cousin found out that she had rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.  And her life was all about her pain, both physical and mental.  She turned into a hypochondriac.   It was never a cough, it was lung cancer.  It wasn’t a scratch, it was necrotizing fasciitis.  And her anxiety disorder was difficult – she couldn’t drive on highways at all.

Anyway,  I still enjoyed seeing her, but in short doses.  I was spreading my wings – moving to Columbus, going to school, making new friends.  Her life was shrinking – waiting for moments when her married man could get away, staying within the confines of her hometown, refusing to date anyone else, waiting for the guy to leave his wife (he never did.)

However, we have stayed in touch throughout the years, through email or family, or mostly through funerals.  That didn’t stop me from being devastated over the news from last week.

However, it also reminded me that life is for the living, that you never know when your life can change, that you have to appreciate what you have. Yeah, every cliche you can think of rolled through my mind last week.  Nevertheless, it worked.  I got out of my funk.

As for my cousin?  She is getting the attention she has wanted her entire life.  She’s happy.  Really happy.

Life never stops being amazing, does it?