As I was thinking about what to blog this week, I googled, “A week after graduation” and this article about a family in Columbus, OH appeared at the top of the page…
Wait! Before you read this story, let me pass along some words from TBI survivor, Kara Swanson, to put it all in perspective: Don’t leave the important things unspoken. Don’t leave the deep things unshared. We don’t know how many opportunities for talking and sharing our futures hold for us. Maybe not enough to waste time and energy on issues and relationships that don’t really matter. Maybe just enough to find, foster and cherish the ones that really do (I’ll Carry the Fork).
On April 12, after watching her son graduate early from Hilliard Darby High School, Darlene Schultz told her husband, “I’m at peace now.”
Today, one week later, she died.
Schultz, 50, had battled cancer since 2009, and in March her doctors told her that they could no longer keep the disease from continuing to spread.
She had focused on seeing the younger of her two sons, Jacob, graduate on May 24. When her health declined further, friends and school parents came up with the idea of holding an early ceremony.
At the high school on the afternoon of April 12, Mrs. Schultz saw Jacob walk across the stage to receive his diploma. More than 70 invited students joined family members, teachers and parents and members of the school band played Pomp and Circumstance.
“That meant everything in the world to me — and to her,” her husband, Dave Schultz, said today. “When she told me she was at peace, I knew it wouldn’t be too long.
“By Sunday evening, she was starting to go.”
Mrs. Schultz died at home, surrounded by family.
The couple’s older son, Tommy, 20, had returned home Thursday from the University of Cincinnati, where he attends school.
M.A.D. Now! (Make A Difference Now!)
