Dwight's family has (hereditary) polycystic kidney disease. He lost his mom and dad back in 1984 (his dad died of cancer) and then August of 2001 he lost his older brother - 2 weeks later his older sister - and 4 days later our son. Now Joni - who has been sick for many years with the kidney problems and recently her heart has passed on. So he has one more sister and 2 nephews (all three have the disease) left.

Hubby is the only one in the family that doesn't have the illness, so he's going through "survivors guilt" on top of all the other emotions. Since no one has made it past the age of 61 (and he turned 58 this year) I think he also has the "mortality issue" on the back of his mind too. Right now I think he's more "numb" than anything.

But we are strong together and I have all you ladies to come lean on --- so this too shall pass.