R.I.P. Phyllis Rubenstein

Grandma Phyllis (pictured here at my wedding with my little cousin Lauren) passed away after a long bravely fought battle with cancer this past Wednesday, March 1st 2006. Although she and my Grandpa Sonny moved to Florida when I was young, she was an extremely caring grandma who loved her family very much. If it weren't for the ridiculously high cost of living here on Long Island, I am sure they never would have left.

She was diagnosed with stage 4 uterine cancer which had spread extensively through her body back in May of 2004. She had gone through several rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy over the past 2 years (almost), and fought like a champ. Recently, as things took a turn for the worse, I know her discomfort increased and she was at peace with the fact that there was nothing more to be done. Luckily, she didn't suffer for long. She passed away at home. She never fell into the coma that most patients with terminal cancer do. She left us quickly and painlessly. And I am thankful for that.

When she was diagnosed in May '04, her goal was to make it to my wedding in February '05. She made it.....and more than a year beyond that. It is amazing that she was with us as long as she was, and again, we are all thankful for that.

I leave you all with my Grandma's favorite poem that I will be reading at her funeral in NYC this sunday:

Trees

(For Mrs. Henry Mills Alden)

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

- Joyce Kilmer