In posting to the lively breast cancer blog, http://www.journeyingbeyondbreastcancer.com, I told the following story that has bothered me since the day I heard it several years ago and I thought you might want to hear it, too.

Several years ago, after speaking at a breast cancer event in a midwestern state that shall remain unnamed, a sad-looking woman with only one breast came up to me and said, "My husband left me for a 'whole woman.'" She added, "That 'whole woman' was my daughter from a previous marriage."

I gasped. What must it have been like to lose her husband and her daughter in one fell swoop? While she was dealing with breast cancer and its treatment? While her self esteem had been shredded, anyway? I pulled her into my arms.

I have always felt terribly saddened by that story. But a man who would leave a woman at a time like that would not be a man I’d want sharing my bed.

Much to my eternal gratitude, my husband is not such a man. He has been faithful and supportive for over 63 years now, through thick and thin, through breast cancer, through chronic fatigue syndrome, through tragedy. My tribute to him is my third book: This Path We Share – Reflecting on 60 Years of Marriage.

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