All in a day .....

This has been by far one of the nicest days we've had this spring .... and I was determined to get out and enjoy it.  The girls and I loaded up the bikes and spent the morning riding the Poco trail - all 25 km of it.  It was wonderful being out and enjoying the beauty as well as the time with the girls.  I can't count the number of times I said "isn't this the best day?!".  Now I sit here this evening still reeling from an email I received from a friend with the saddest news that one of our colleagues and dear friend has passed away after her four year battle with ovarian cancer.  My heart is breaking for her family as they struggle to deal with this .... its not like they didn't know this was coming but when it actually happens, I have no doubt that they weren't prepared.  I don't think we ever are.  Connie was an amazing woman who lived life to the fullest, even in these final years, she didn't sit around and feel sorry for herself.  She lived every moment to the fullest and was truly and inspiring woman in  the face of this horrible disease.  I last saw her at a Christmas gathering where she was full of life and stories - sharing stories of her travel to the Mediterranean and their gps adventures with a car, her telling us that she was making the Christmas turkey but was not going to be eating as it was after one of her treatments - so matter a fact.  I remember the girls coming away from these evening surprised that this woman was as ill as I said she was because she didn't act sick.  I remember the hug I gave her, holding her just a bit longer, just in case I didn't see her again.    As the email from my friend said .... "Connie lived a magnificent life and her passing is not an end because of the indelible mark she has left on the many she so profoundly affected.  She is in and around us always.  We can paint ourselves in this gold and walk into the world.  Connie is still here ..."

This is Connie our Warrier Princess (blue jacket) and some of her friends in April 2008