Heavy thoughts

My best friend Cassandra yesterday asked me to be her power of attorney. That's some heavy stuff right there. I said yes immediately, I had already made my mind up before she asked me honestly. She said she didn't want to be a burden on me, my reply was that it would be more of a burden if I didn't have it. She doesn't have anyone in her family trustworthy enough, who cares enough and is close enough geographically to her to do it, and I would worry myself sick about her care if a stranger had POA for her.

She has Huntington's Disease, a degenerative neurological disorder that comes from a repeating strand of protein in her DNA. She was born with this faulty gene, this has been her destiny since birth. The repeats make the protein fold up wrong, not neatly as they should, and in the transmission of these proteins along her nerves kills them off slowly. I have been watching her slowly lose her ability to do things and it breaks my heart. Then, it makes me proud of her. She handles her situation with grace and strength. When she can't do one thing any more, she is sad for it, but she quickly moves on to focusing on what abilities she does have and how she can change and adapt to make the most out of those. She has a ten year old son and she is a wonderful mother to him, she plans crafts, experiments, baking and cooking projects and movies for her time with him. He is a fine boy, sweet, compassionate and wise beyond his years.

I might be angry at God or the Universe or whatever for her having to deal with this but for her attitude. She regards it as a gift, she does not ask "why" she ask's "what can I learn from this?", she does not curse God for it, she thanks God for giving her a beautiful life, her beautiful son, friends and loved ones and everything she has.

She is a constant inspiration and one of my forever hero's.