Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog

11/30/09 - We Lose A Very Special Friend
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We've been so fortunate to meet and make so many new friends since we "took to the road" --- this is about one.

Early this morning our dear, valiant, friend lost her battle with Lou Gehrigh's disease. Last evening a few of us paid a visit to her hospital room. We knew that the end was near and we had to make one last "goodbye". Ginny was in obvious pain and was so uncomfortable. I thought the most painful deaths I have ever witnessed were those dear friends who died of AIDs (at least the ones I witnessed). In my opinion, dying of Lou Gehrig's disease also known as ALS, was worse.

Ginny was a fighter from the word "go" - and refused to give in to this terminal diagnoses without fighting with very ounce of her mind and strength. Her brother works with ALS sufferers, and told Ginny last Spring that her time was short - that she'd never make it back to Sunbeam this year. "You don't know what it's like," he advised her. "Yeah, and you don't know me, either" Ginny retorted. And she prevailed. She did return to Sunbeam in October. She willed herself into participating in as many activities and functions as she was able, but in the end she lost her battle. She would have been 70 this June.

Anyone who met Ginny loved her. She was that kind of person. Leg braces, walkers, and wheel chairs - only confined her movement; her mind was all over the place. She loved to shop, to play FarmVille on the computer, to learn something new each day, to visit with friends and all with the most positive outlook and great sense of humor you can imagine.

Last season some days I'd see her and her eyes would be shining. She could not keep the smile off her face - Her son who was then stationed in the Iraq area had called her and no matter what pain she might be experiencing, all was right with the world. Ginny's son had called!

So very soon the family will have Ginny taken to Montana where she'll be put to rest next to her husband, Bill. We already miss her and will continue to do so - all the while being involved in the matters of the living.

For several years Ginny, Judie and I have passed ourselves off as "sisters". We've had a lot of fun with the charade and it tickled Ginny anytime we "fooled" a resident or visitors. She'll always be the sister in our hearts, for that's where she was sister-born, in our hearts.

Life is a precious gift and the one way to remember and honor Ginny is to live life to the fullest, in joy and gratitude.

Goodbye dearest sis - fly with the angels!

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"NO DEAL BASICALLY means that if we can't find a solution that wold benefit us both, we agree to disagree agreeably--No Deal. No expectations have been created, no performance contracts established. I don't hire you or we don't take on a particular assignment together because it's obvious that our values or our goals are going in opposite directions. It is so much better to realize this up front instead of downstream when expectations have been created and both parties have been disillusioned.
When you have No Deal as an option in your mind, you feel liberated because you have no need to manipulate people, to push your own agenda, to drive for what you want. You can be open. You can really try to understand the deeper issues underlying the positions." (9/9)

Paul & Kathleen Smith | 173 Rainbow Dr #7329 | Livingston, TX 77399-1073 | (510) 386-8973

Life on the Road with Paul & Kathleen: "Not bad for two dumb kids from Ohio" - Proving once again that it's never too late to have a happy childhood

Our Lazy Daze at Kirk Creek Camp on CA Hwy 1 40 mi N of Hearst's Castle 11/24/03: Shortly after full-timing began.	Lazy Daze no 2 at Kiki's RV Park in San Felipe, Mexico 7/02/09