@john68 John, thank you for finding the strength and courage to bring us this news. We may be a small community, but our hearts are big.

It's been an honour to have learned from your experiences over the last 7+ years. No doubt, the impact you've had here has been and will continue to be felt for numerous years to come.

If there's anything at all that I, or we, can do for you and Lorraine, just ask!

@john68 .... hey John, we'll, this is not the greatest news for you or from you. I read this but I have been unable to respond. You know, there's been so much cancer in my own family that I knew that your long silences meant one of two things. Either "things" were going really well for our  person in concern or "things" were simply not going good at all & that you were struggling. 

I'm sure this has been so difficult for you & Lorraine & your family.   John, all the little pieces of you & your life that you shared here led us to know "you" in a way that maybe others will not be so lucky to know.  I've been here about as long as you have been & I have enjoyed reading your comments & being lifted up by them personally as well. Thank you so much for that!! 

Honestly, I couldn't help but feel a little gutted reading your news here,  for both you & for Lorraine. Being a widow was not in my vocabulary as Doug & I had such sweet simple plans for retirement.  It's been said, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Our plans weren't to fancy, maybe travel to Hawaii & see Mauii, look for seashells & shiney stones, don't roll your eyes, lol, buy a motorhome of sorts & travel & check out different beaches and do lots of walking our dogs,  sitting in front of the massive night sky watching stars & thunder storms alike and, hopefully enjoying Grandchildren.  Well, those plans never came to fruition due to that nasty word, cancer.  We all die from something but that sure doesn't make things any easier. 

Doug did a lot of watching us in his last months. But, he also did something amazingly special too! Now,  I love a good map! About three months after he lost his battle, I went to look at a cerrain map & when I picked it up, it felt thicker then usual. Opening it, I found three envelopes. Now, at this point, you know Lorraine's not letting you out of her sight much, right ?  lol! I think that's pretty normal, the thing is I have NO clue when Doug did this, but finding these,envelopes with his chicken scratch on them, made me reach for a chair pretty quickly. Here my sweet man had written letters to each of our kids & one to me. 

From my heart... I can't tell you enough what it meant to read his words of love and encouragement that day and to be re-reading them over the last 16 years if I  needed to be encouraged by the same words, especially during certain struggles in my life without him. Those words are as close as I can get to a hug from him now.  John, I want to encourage you to do this too,  ESPECIALLY for Lorraine.  I know it's a hard task, but I think you can do it!  It may make her cry when she finds & reads YOUR words of love to her,  those tears that I've shed have been repeatedly healing each time I've read them or just held them. 

As you go thru the next months ahead of you, please know that I will continue to keep you and your family in my prayers and here, have a virtual hug from me too!  If you can keep us in the loop or have someone relay a message for you as to how things going, please do that.  You know that we'll be reading a long! Please Know you are appreciated here! 

John I am so sorry to hear of all this . You and VO helped me to get through the unsure times of getting my ostomy and dealing with it . I always enjoy the PM's we shared and how you made me laugh we the terms you use compared to the terms we use here . I wanna say to you and Lorraine you are in my thoughts and prayers and will always be . If in anyway there would be anything I could do for you of course just let me know . I'm here . I will always remember one thing you would always tell me . 

Keep er lit my friend