ROSALEE’S GIFT

Rosalee breezed into the art gallery much as she always did, a bundle of energy, barely contained in her petite frame. Always on some mission or other, she would routinely burst into the room, suffusing it with her positive and buoyant energy.  Dark eyes flashing with obvious purpose, she sat me down and said bluntly and matter-of-factly, “I’m dying of pancreatic cancer.  Be especially kind to Philip.”  Then she was gone, out the door and down the hall on the next part of today’s mission.
    

I was shocked.  I knew she was diabetic, and had been having some difficulty stabilizing her blood sugar.  I knew she was a cancer survivor, both breast and thyroid.  She looked so “Rosalee”…her usual, expertly coiffed and stylishly together self.  She came back, after giving me a little time to digest the news, and asked me not to share this with anyone for the moment.  She wanted to live the rest of her life with as little fuss and bother as she could, and Heaven knew she had a lot of preparation to make.
    

That I could believe.  Rosalee prepared for EVERYTHING.  She was meticulous and detail oriented.  She had to be, having just retired from a career managing a major Jewish senior citizen’s apartment and continuing care center.  Now she was preparing for her death.
    

I offered to do anything she needed, but realized how hollow that sounded even to my own ears.  She graciously acknowledged this and said she would “get back to me….” I felt so helpless and inadequate.  I fell to my knees and prayed…..

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