an “extended family” loss

i consider some of my best friends… “EXTENDED FAMILY” and their family is included. it’s not like i have a small family for which to compensate as both of my parents are 1 of 8 children. maybe this makes me keen to include more special people in my life. i’ve always called my best friends’ parents “mom/dad” and their grandparents/aunts/cousins, etc were also mine. on this note, i also consider the “extended family” of others to be just as important. if you were to spend any amount of quality time (say at birthdays or holiday gatherings) with my uncle rick and aunt cheryl, you will encounter the manusov family. they have been a peripheral presence at rick/cheryl’s for just about as long as i can remember. it’s not like we exchange birthday cards or anything but i know that this family is just as important to rick/cheryl’s family as blood relatives. they are in fact… a second family. so it pains me to know that one of the manusov children passed away last weekend from an epileptic seizure. i know this loss is paramount to my aunt/uncle’s family and i think about their sadness and grief and know that they share this loss as if it were one of their own children… maybe one of my “extended cousins.”

as i shared the story of the manusov loss with others, i realized that epilepsy is much more common that i had ever known. i suddenly realize that it’s all around me and i never knew. i also realize that the abrupt loss from epilepsy is also fairly common. i’ve learned a lot about “special dogs” that can sense the onset of a seizure, even before the patient.

sending thoughts and prayers to all of my “extended family”