My friend, Stephanie, died last week. She lost her battle with ALS, but then, being a nurse, she knew she didn't have any hope of winning that particular battle. She knew exactly what was in store for her from the day of diagnosis to her final day of taking the last agonizing breath. She knew and she was terrified, but she still fought like a champ and, with the love and support of her husband, John, made the very best of the last two years of her life.

This summer she was still searching for shark's teeth to add to her collection of well over a thousand. The difference was...she was doing it from a beach-access wheelchair, which John provided through whatever system he was able to connect with. Still, she found them..tiny sharks teeth... even from the chair...amazing.

In her last three months, she lay in a hospital bed in a wonderful room, in her home, with windows to look out so she could watch the birds and the squirrels and whatever critters happened to wander into the yard. She could see the flowers and the trees and all the nature that was visible from her window. Steph was a lover of nature and I mean a real lover of ALL nature....even bugs. She loved spiders and no one was allowed to kill a spider if Steph was around. If there was a roach in the house, it had to be covered with a paper cup and gently guided outside. Mice? No worries, she could hear them in the walls and would just smile at her boys, as if to say, they are a part of our family and have every much right to be here as we do.

During this time at home, she was on a vent, which, essentially, breathed for her. She hung on for three months, and all that time, she was surrounded by the love and beautiful care from her husband, John, and her sons, Matt, Jason, Tim, and Johnny. There were nurses there to provide her physical needs, and they were wonderful, but her guys were the providers of the food for her soul. And, oh, did they ever provide. As a mom, I watched the interaction with her boys, and it was beautiful . They were totally with her...in her... and for her... throughout the whole process of her dying. John was there and he provided the loving care for Steph and his boys. For three months, everything he did, every thought he had was for his wife and his sons and what he could do to make it all better.

Steph was taken to Hospice last Monday and she died Tuesday morning. Thanks to John and Hospice, she died in dignity and without suffering or pain.

So, now, we all move forward. But, with us, we take the spirit of Steph and we carry on with her causes. Wherever there is a wrong, we will stand up and try to make it right. That was our Steph...advocate for the underdog...believer in justice for all...fighter to make this country/world what it can be and what it should be. She believed in the best of us and loathed the worst of us. I believe her spirit will stay with us, and if we lose focus, she'll be right there... encouraging us to love our family, our friends, our critters..whatever they may be...and standing up for what we believe. We are one... is what Steph believed. And, I believe it too...even as I struggle with the spiders.