Remembering Dena

Today would have been my friend Dena's birthday. It still feels so strange to me that Dena is gone. Dena fought for months against an unknown (at the time) illness. She continued to write her assignments for sites like Examiner and Associated Content although she was in great pain much of the time. Her strength and dedication to her craft inspired me to push myself on those days where my back pain made me want to just wallow in it. If Dena could do it; I could do it. Little did we both know but Dena had cervical cancer that had spread. This fact was not known to her until she entered the hospital after a weekend of extreme pain. She died less than 2 weeks later. Dena left a legacy that will touch hundreds, maybe thousands. She was a master gardener and her articles are published on many Internet sites. She also dabbled in alternative medicine with an emphasis on herbal treatments. She shared recipes for everything from homemade salad dressings to bread. If you read Dena's articles you can get a glimpse of who she was. A Southern woman, her writing voice was gentle and inviting. As a person, she was special to so many. She took her time to help out complete strangers, fellow writers online thought highly of her because she took the time to advise, encourage and praise others. Her husband, daughter, son, granddaughter and loved ones know how much she was loved by so many. They know how lucky they were to have her in their lives. I know this also. I was blessed to have a friend like Dena. When you have someone special in your life and then they are gone, you grieve because you are not ready to let them go. It is easy to feel anger over their passing. I know I did but that is selfish. Instead I need to be grateful that I did have Dena in my life, even though it was for a short time. I sometimes still feel like Dena was robbed of the opportunity to fulfill her dreams but I guess sometimes our purpose can be served without us being aware that it has. In Dena's memory I encouraged my friends to take better care of their health. Dena didn't have to die from cervical cancer. She could have had a fighting chance had she known sooner. After Dena passed I immediately went and got a checkup. It has taken me several months to accept Dena's passing. I'm not happy about it but knowing there was nothing doctors could do made it easier to accept. I learned a lot about life from Dena. Dena will live on through her online work, the lives she touched and the lessons she taught many of us. The message is that we don't know what tomorrow will bring. If there is someone special in your life, tell them what they mean to you every chance that you get. Life can be shorter than we expect.