A good friend that I met online, Brenda, lost her husband today. He's been struggling for a long time. He came home from the first Iraq War incredibly ill from all the oil fires and has been going downhill steadily since then.
Brenda and Pete have two little girls, the same age as my girls. Two little girls that are going to have to grow up without their daddy. He won't be there to comfort their first broken hearts. When they get married, he won't be there to give them away. All they'll have is the memory of a daddy who was sick for the majority of their short childhoods.
Because she's on disability and has been taking care of Pete full time, Brenda wasn't able to keep up on the life insurance premiums. The VA says that his illness wasn't due to the oil fires, so they're saying that they're not going to pay up either. So essentially, Brenda is left with nothing. She's got people that are going to help her fight the VA, but she already knows it's a losing battle.
I was chatting with Bren last night in IM, and she was her usual incredible, strong, beautiful self. She told me about how Pete mouthed I Love You to her, since he couldn't talk, and then a few minutes later told her to f*** off because she wouldn't let him die at home. ;) (They had just recently moved and she didn't want their new home to be the place where daddy died, for her girls.) I know she's going to be OK, because that's just who she is. But being OK doesn't stop the ache, or the missing the person you love the most in the world, or the ache for your children in their loss.
Any prayers at all for Brenda and her girls are most definitely appreciated, and needed.
Be well, Pete. Godspeed.
