Susan Swardenski, Cancer Services volunteer

Volunteer Susan Swardenski shares her thoughts on Regina Brett’s life lesson: know when to agree to disagree.

“For nearly 50 years, my one remaining sister and I did not get along, so a lot of valuable time that we could have been sharing was lost. Seven years ago, we were attending a family funeral in our home town of Concord, Massachusetts for our last two uncles (who died 1 day apart), and it struck me that we were the only immediate family members left.

So I decided to make the first move towards reconciliation. In the past, when we did talk, it always ended in an argument, so years would go by without communication. I had figured out the problem was that each of us needed to have the last word. I suggested we try to change this and just love and support each other. To accomplish this, we would have to agree to disagree.

To my surprise, she readily agreed, and we have become very close over the years — visiting each other, taking trips together, and most of all, enjoying being real sisters. What a blessing to have each other… how sad that we missed so much time together.”

~Susan Swardenski, volunteer