Good Friend Jim

Our good friend Jim Ciskowski died. We visited him in the hospital in New Brunswick on Wednesday. He was on a lot of pain medication to combat the effects of his pancreatic cancer. He had been diagnosed about a year ago. He packed a lot into his final year. He started finishing up projects that he started around the house, hauled a loads of his firewood to his son, cooked dinner for us one night with his wife, Alice, danced at his son's wedding and called us to go kayaking on the Navesink. He always had a smile on his face and never complained. When asked, he would say when things weren't going well, but took it all in stride.

Jim was an avid gardener and was even talking about it with Anne three days before he died. He had a huge vegetable garden in his back yard, a couple of grills and a smoker. He even showed us how to pet bees. Jim was an inspiration on how to live with cancer and how to die with it. Godspeed Jim. You will be missed.