Fighting death in the mask of cancer is tough. Living on after that fight might be tougher yet. Corinne said, “Sometimes I just can’t wait to move on. From this planet. It’s all getting too sticky. And it just seems to get worse.”

Corinne and I each know we are going to die. Sometime. I knew it for myself as a daily reality after Linda died. Corinne knows it about herself since her battle with cancer began. Both Corinne and I keep our spiritual beliefs to ourselves. But we each believe there is more after this. That death is not the end.

We would rather live happily and in peace. Together. We’re doing that today. And we will be tomorrow. The quality of our living is most important to each of us.

We continue to worry about just how we will live from this point forward. As Corinne gets healthier, our attentions are beginning to shift off the critical challenges of the present onto the mountains we must climb in the future. How will we pay our medical debts? Will Corinne ever again be strong enough to work a demanding job eight hours every day? Will I go back to my old line of work and, if not, then what?

We are each facing as hard a life from this point forward as we have ever before faced. And we’re much older than we were when we conquered challenges like these decades ago. We are scared.