On November 19, our family lost Chris Darrow to cancer. Chris was a highly intelligent animal loving chef and gamer, with a fiance and a little girl eight years old. He was 32. Thank you to all who prayed for Chris and his family. Please continue to pray as his family deals with their loss. We loved Chris and will miss him very much. We hate cancer.
Mom had a rocky weekend. When I arrived Friday night, she was animated and conversant. Saturday morning she greeted me with, "My, don't you look fresh today," which, although conversational, was quite far from reality. I left her for a few minutes and when I returned she was no longer talking. She ate her breakfast in silence, then fell asleep. Bill and Pattie stopped by in the afternoon, and she was unresponsive. We visited while Mom slept. Her silence continued for the rest of the day, until the evening when we changed her nightgown and bedding. She responded to questions a little, then fell asleep again.
Sunday morning I woke up to Mom talking to herself. I said, "Well, good morning!" To which she replied, "When did you get here?" The rest of the morning was full of conversation broken up with brief naps. For both of us.
In the late afternoon before Corey and I left for Grand Rapids, I read to Mom from Peace Like a River and the book of love poems. Mom's favorite love poem this week was by Ben Jonson, entitled A Vision of Beauty. She soaked it up completely. I asked if she wanted me to read it again, and she said, "Oh, I don't know if I can stand it!" I asked her if I should take that as a yes, and she affirmed. We read a couple more, and she became so overwhelmed by the romance that we decided to return to the story book. But after a little while, we put the story down and went back to the poetry.
(Mom with Suzy, November 23, 2008)
From the beginning of Mom's diagnosis we have had a sense of the preciousness of this time together. Losing Chris these past few days has underscored the importance of holding our loved ones close, living a life of gratitude, not taking our time together for granted.
The Saturday night rain turned to snow sometime during the night, transforming the world outside our window into a white crystal fairy land. When Mom woke up, I said, "Look out the window - we have our first snow!" She was not impressed. Not in the least. 
Grandma's groupies: Devon, Makayla, Babbette and Olivia.
Did you know how amazing pineapple is? Pineapple is the king of fruits. You should have some pineapple. Right now. Salute the pineapple!
Full of pineapple, fighting off the chill with layers of covers and the fireplace video.
I thought you might enjoy seeing a few more pictures from years past. Mom is still everything she always was in spirit and soul. It amazes me every day how the Rose Mary of yesterday shines through her current limitations.
Another 1994 Darrow Reunion photo. Step back Rachael Ray. Rosie has a spatula and she knows how to use it.
This picture is somewhat of a mystery to us. Dad won several trips during his tenure at Sentry Insurance - Jamaica, Spain, and Venezuela. We didn't know this photo existed until Dad passed away. It was in a folder in his desk. Even Mom didn't know when it was taken. But it's maybe the best picture the two of them ever had taken together.
Mom mimicking Lady Liberty in Las Vegas at the 2003 Darrow Family Reunion.
The Rose Mary in these pictures is still with us. She is Rosie in her humor, her sensitivity, and her uncanny ability to find the most provocative word for the moment. In spite of the difficulty of the past nearly two years, she is undeniably herself. There's only one Rosie.