Beloved Maggie - December 23, 2000 - September 13, 2011

Dad's Little Girl Goddess

Our hearts are overflowing with unbearable pain and sadness as we relay the passing of our sweet baby Maggie, your Long and Short of it All hostess.  We're hoping to be able to write something to honor our beautiful girl in the next few days, but for now...we just can't, and nothing would ever be good enough, so how do we even proceed?   Suffice to say that you may not hear from us for some time.  Maggie's ultrasound today showed that she had liver cancer - unrelated to the Cushing's disease, and not treatable.   The tumors were "too numerous to count" and did not exist just 4 short months ago when she had her last ultrasound.  She was put to rest just a few hours after the ultrasound results with friends and her Dad at her side on the floor with her, as she lay comfortably and content on a warm blanket.  We were hoping to have Joey by her side as well, but sometimes things just don't go as you would like them to.  We've got a good feeling that "Joey knows."   We spent a lot of time reminiscing with her, loving her, stroking her, hugging her, kissing her, caressing her, and telling her of how special and beautiful she was and how all her friends - both near and far, loved her very much.  She passed quietly in our arms.

Now if only the pain would pass - oh God, the pain.  Our home is empty and cold.  Please hug your little ones tight.

I wandered today to the hill, Maggie
To watch the scene below
The creek and the old rusty mill, Maggie
Where we sat in the long, long ago.
The green grove is gone from the hill, Maggie
Where first the daisies had sprung
The old rusty mill is now still, Maggie
Since you and I were young.

And now we are aged and grey, Maggie
The trials of life nearly done
Let us sing of the days that are gone, Maggie
When you and I were young.

A city so silent and lone, Maggie
Where the young and the gay and the best
In polished white mansions of stone, Maggie
Have each found a place of rest
Is built where the birds used to play, Maggie
And join in the songs that were sung
For we sang just as gay as did they, Maggie
When you and I were young.

They say I am feeble with age, Maggie
My steps are less sprightly than then
My face is a well written page, Maggie
And time, time alone was the pen.

They say we are aged and grey, Maggie
As spray by the white breakers flung
But to me you're as fair as you were, Maggie
When you and I were young.

When You and I Were Young, Maggie; words by George Washington Johnson, 1864.



It's unfortunate that the original video we posted here, a beautiful acapella version of When You and I Were Young, Maggie, was removed from youtube, but this version by Donna Stewart and Ron Andrico is also quite beautiful.