A Hard Battle, Lost.

She beat the odds for longer than anyone expected, and fought harder than anyone I've known. I'm not sure she did herself any favors, because it hurt. It hurt her, and her husband and all who knew her and watched the struggle and the pain, the small victories and the gradual defeats.

Today, though the spirit was still willing, the flesh had finally had enough. My friend's wife died today. You first heard of her last fall, when the doctors said that she wouldn't see Christmas. She did, and she was still fighting when we went back on a rainy January day and took the outside lights back down again.

This morning, she told her husband that she loved him and she'd like some juice. She was gone when he came back to the room. I hope she's finally stopped hurting.