Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Happy Birthday, Sweetie Pie!

Today is Margret's birthday.

She would be 43 today.  On Monday, she'll be gone six years.

Grief fades into the background, and life takes on a new normal.  I don't hurt the way I did when she was first gone. And yet, I still miss her.

Last night I was sitting on the porch watching the lightning play around and behind the clouds, and listening to the thunder. I was thinking about the last time I sat on the porch watching a thunderstorm with my daughters, snuggled together under a blanket, giggling and enjoying being close.  I smiled.

Last month I went to the PHA Convention in Indianapolis with Merle.  I met several more internet friends face to face for the first time.  Margret would have had a marvelous time.  She would have made friends with EVERYBODY, because that was Margret.

PHA has an early diagnosis campaign, and I plan to keep telling anyone who will listen about PH, just as Margret and I did for years.  It's too late to help my daughter, but I want to get out the word about the benefits of early diagnosis so that no one else has to go through the decline she did before getting appropriate treatment.

Here's a link to the PHAssociation website:
http://phassociation.org/

and here's another, to Merle's PH Support Group pages, lots more good info:
http://www.clevelandareaph.com/