11 Weeks since Rich died

Can't believe it's been eleven weeks since my dear Rich died ... I wish I could get the vision of him in the hospital bed, unconscious ... out of my head ... I know eventually I will only remember him as alive and smiling.
Here's a great photo of dear Rich and his son .. taken on his 80th birthday.


My shingles is still bugging me .. it's been 6 1/2 weeks! It's manageable but uncomfortable. At least I have no scarring . . thanks to the witch hazel which dried up the ugly rash before it could really take hold. It's a strange thing .. when I researched shingles, I found that it occurs because of (1) stress, (2) injury, or (3) cancer. A scary thought. Rich got shingles at the end of 1998 on his right clavicle. The following August, he found blood in his sputum and in October, they removed his upper right lobe due to lung cancer and they had to cut right through the shingles scars ..
Yesterday my sister and brother-in-law's dog was euthanized. She'd been ailing for a long time and was boarded while they were away. The vet called and told me 'it's time' so I called my brother-in-law on the cruise ship and he agreed .. so I volunteered to go to the vet's and be with her so she wouldn't be scared. It was the right thing for me to do, but what I didn't need ... I've had enough of death this year!
To the people who've posted comments on my blog .. THANK YOU. I'm really doing this for therapeutic value to help me recover from the horrible start to this year .. but I appreciate your taking time to write.