I'm really not sure what I should say - only that I feel the need to say something.

A friend of mine - someone with whom I work, though with him it never feels like working - told me this morning that he would be emailing me tonight about his wife.

See - his wife has been having some health problems since before the holidays, and we've talked about it several times since and he's kept me updated throughout the whole process.

I've relayed information to my mom, just on the off chance she might have some ideas. (I know - she only worked in a doctor's office and was the office manager, but sometimes you just hope that by saying the right thing to the right person that they might have an idea - something that the doctor missed. I only say that because the doctors missed what was going on with my Aunt Ruby - and it seemed so similar, and my mom has become quite the advocate for holistic diagnosis.)

Anyway, he and I had a meeting today, and it was a really good meeting - you know, one of those where everyone feels right in sync and has great ideas and you just feel like all of you together could conquer the world if you had to.

Only what he told me tonight is something that I don't think that all of us together on our very very best day could come up with an answer for. It's something I wish we had the power to change, to ovecome, to take this cup away from them.

I guess I knew it when he told me he couldn't talk to me about it at work - that he would email me at home later tonight. Deep inside I already knew what I didn't want to hear him say.

But she has ALS.

I don't know her half as well as I know a lot of folks' spouses, but you can tell so much about someone by how they are loved. How they are a part of everything that is important to their mate. And she is so very important to him, and as wondeful as he is I know that she is a very special woman. And I hurt so badly for them right now. What little I know about the disease is not good - most of it through the experience of a woman with whom my husband and other friends worked. I do know that it is something that I would not wish on anyone.

And I don't know what to do.

What I do know is that I just want to gather all my friends around me right now and hug them and throw my arms about them to fiercely protect them and make everything all right for everyone. So many of my friends are dealing with serious health issues right now - I just want everyone to be allright. I wish there was a way I could make everything allright.