I had 7 years with my daughter, 37 with my husband and so far 52 years with my son. The two of us left live in strange waters. We do our best to avoid arguments, but they happen, as within any family. Only our family has shrunk to two. I live downstairs and he up. We keep different hours as well. What we share is our grief. And we share it in an unspoken way.

When the holidays come, and they are bearing down upon us, we know exactly how to get through them. One day at a time. We have given up on our situation getting any better. It is what it is. So we both spend time out of the house. Rob takes long rides on his bike daily. I get out in the mornings and do my grocery shopping, etc. Today I went to the library.

After I got six books to see me through the holidays, I went in a new pie shop and bought Rob an apple hand pie. Next door I had a pumpkin latte and lingered over it half an hour. Now I am back home again.

This is not a maudlin note by any means. We are both survivors of the worst thing that can ever happen to a family, the loss of a child. You lose not only the child but her children if she had lived long enough to have any. Rob has not wanted children; that is probably a blessing.

I have written my way through my sorrows. Page after page I tell you of what it is like to survive in a situation like this. First the long illness of a little girl and then the long one of the head of the household. They loved each other dearly.

But now I have come to Act III of my life, as Leonard Cohen calls it. I have neuropathy and am learning to live with it. So far it is in the beginning stages, but it could get much worse. Other than that, I am quite healthy and have been told I will live a long time.

I have been fighting to get my first book, “Life With a Hole in It,” available on amazon again and I have chosen now to walk away from the fight. It is up to my publisher and distributor to deal with amazon. If anyone wants a paperback copy, it is available on order from any bookshop. Barnes & Noble and Walmart are two that can get it for you. Otherwise, please ask me for the ebook and I will email it to you ASAP. That goes for my other books as well.

I love those that have been hanging out with me all of these years. You know my story and my status as a “medicine woman.” I think that is what my writing is ultimately all about. So here’s to your health, my friends. “May the long-time sun shine upon us.”

Vicki Woodyard