Category Archives: Love

#sickbody, chronic disease, chronic pain, disability, family, health, Love, open letter, Relationships, sickness, Survivor

A Marriage of Sickness and Health

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Dear future partner,

We haven’t met yet, or maybe we have and time wasn’t ready.
We need to talk. Now. Before I fall in love with you, before you fall in love with me.

Because I don’t want my disease to cause you to leave me.

Too often I see sad posts in online support communities for severe disease groups. Like this one:

“My spouse just asked for a divorce after 25 years of marriage. She said she could no longer handle being married to my condition. I work full time, I do chores, I am a great partner and parent. I just can’t hide when I’m having such bad pain. I feel so alone. Can someone share how they got through this? How can I be in another relationship if I know my disease could cause someone to leave?”

These posts wrench my stomach. I cry, “Another one?” And I have two reactions: hope and fear.

Continue reading A Marriage of Sickness and Health →

#sickbody, Death, family, Grief, health, Invisible disease, Love, Patient Advocacy, PTSD, Rachael, Relationships, sickness, Survivor, Women

World Prematurity Day

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Source: World Prematurity Day

Death, family, Grief, Love, public speaking, Rachael, Raising Ruth, sickness

Remembering Rachael, Raising Ruth

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Rachael died the day before her daughter was due to be born.

But baby Ruth was already over four months old when Rachael died. She was born so early she weighed less than a pound – 0.95 pounds, to be exact. That’s less than the weight of a four-stick package of butter.

Our physical bodies are on loan to us.  They will die. It is our spirit bodies that are unique and will never die.  It is our spirit bodies that fall in love; our physical bodies only transmit it through touch. It is what we leave behind of our spirit bodies, our love, that becomes our legacy. Continue reading Remembering Rachael, Raising Ruth →

family, Heroes, Love, poetry

I choose to be beautiful

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I choose to be beautiful.

Charis Hill image
Charis Hill image

I choose to have conversations with people who sit on street corners with signs that say, “homeless, hungry, please help.” Because, as J.K. Rowling says, through Dumbledore, “If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” Continue reading I choose to be beautiful →