August 14, 2008 – Today I seem to be celebrating the life of Marion, who is living with grace and dignity on the edge of life. I am posting words and photos all day in honor of this extraordinarily brave and loving woman. Marion lived most of her life as a farmer’s wife devoted to her husband, her three children, her friends, relatives, cows and dogs.
  She has experienced great love and great loss, and some day, with the permission of her family, I would like to write a little bit more about her life.
  Working on the edge of life is a powerful experience, and there are many elements to it, but one consistent thing is that I feel fortunate to hear some of the great stories of the world, and they are, like Marion’s, simple stories, but important, stories about memory, love, pain and experience.
  Marion has never complained to me, even as she struggles to remember my name, and to muster the strength to get through the day. She is dumbfounded by discourtesy and cruelty. Always, always, she is thinking of others – me, her daughter and son, Izzy, her late husband Horace.
 She is a giver, and her great heart and proud spirit shout out, and show in her beautiful face. She and Izzy are hard workers, when they get together, there is no messing around. They go to work. They connect, and tell one another the story of their life, in their own way. They get it done.