January 2006: Life Renewed (cont.)

Peter’s condition grew so much more severe during this time in the hospital that, at the end of his stay, it was clear he could not return home. Instead, his wife had to place him in a nursing home as close to their home in Michigan as they could find a bed. And that is where he will stay, that is where his wife and three little boys visit him every weekend, that is where he will, eventually, die.

While Peter was in the hospital—in fact, during the time he was undergoing the test that would finally name his illness—his sister, Beth-Alison, was having a baby, a fine, healthy boy named Chester. Curiously, my son-in-law chose the name Chester not knowing it had been my dad’s name.

And more curiously still, life, just as it seems to be drawing to a close, renews itself.

So I come into this new year, filled with sadness and touched, every single day, by joy.