"When and if the end comes, no one will approach it better than you," said Larry King to Tammy Faye Messner during a live television interview Thursday night.

Friday morning, the end arrived -- Tammy Faye lost her long and courageous battle with inoperable cancer. She was 65.

A Christian singer, evangelist, entrepreneur, talk show host, reality show star, and former wife of disgraced televengalist Jim Bakker, Tammy Faye was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1996. She defied all medical predictions after her disease spread to her lungs in 2004, and she lived on with an inspiring amount of grace and dignity. Weighing only 65 pounds and battling almost constant pain, she spoke with Larry King just days ago -- with both her trademark make-up and a smile on her face -- and she talked openly and candidly about her death. She didn't know when her time would come. But she was ready.

The end has come for Tammy Faye. Surely, no one approached it quite like her.

I'm sharing seven bits of wisdom this Sunday that are not my own. I am borrowing them from Pat McRee who has collected all sorts of survivor stories, affirmations, quotations, poetry, lyrics, and resources, has wrapped them with a bunch of hope and humor, and has packaged them in a box she calls Support to Go, The Unbook for the Journey through Breast Cancer.

McRee's colorful, lively box contains 80 cards. And on each card is some type of tip, idea, recipe, myth, truth, and essay that makes the breast cancer road easier to travel.

Live it. Learn it. Pass it on. That's what McRee says -- and exactly what she did when she stacked her deck of cards with such meaningful and magical material.

There is no way I could easily choose seven cards from my own box of support -- there's just too much good stuff, and it all deserves equal attention. So I drew seven random cards from the pile that sits before me, and this is what I got.

Queasy Made Easy
This card lists menu items targeted for the chemo tummy. A registered oncology nurse for 20 years, Betty Dozier shares what she has learned about what to eat -- clear, cool drinks, fruit juice, plain baked potatoes, Cold canned or fresh fruit, saltines, rice, toast, clear broths, sherbet, Popsicles -- and what not to eat -- gravy, sauces, potato chips, sour cream, heavy creamed soups.

Safety in Numbers
McRee doesn't put much stock in statistics and numbers generated by calculators that have nothing to do with real people. But she does believe in numbers when it comes to survival. On this card, she lists the names of genuine survivors with real numbers. She lists Shirley Weinman, a 20-year-survivor, Janice Johnston, an eight-year survivor, Linda Beebe, a 15-year survivor -- and so on.

No Smile Left Behind
McRee offers a prescription for play, an invitation to smile and laugh and rejoice in the face of cancer. "Cut eye holes in a paper bag and wear it to treatment," she says. "Tell 'em you just couldn't face another day." Another idea -- "Pass the word that everyone who enters the waiting room will get a Standing Ovation. They all deserve 'em just for showing up."

Fuzzy Logic
Check out this oh-so-true poem:

Too gray, too wavy, too doggone thick,
Smack in the front ... a big 'ol cowlick!
Split-ends and frizzies whenever it rained,
Now it's hard to believe I ever complained;
So, Lord, let's grow something! I'll nevermore whine ...
Gray, thick and wavy will suit me just fine.

Postcards
McRee provides a few postcards intended for mailing to surviving friends. One says, I hear you're patched, retreaded and approved for the road. Another says, U are not alone.

Hair Tomorrow
McRee offers a souvenir keeper for a lock of pre-chemo hair. Why not save it, says McRee, who shares that what grows back might be as different as your new life will be.

Buttoned-Up
Make your own buttons -- and wear them proudly. This card gives button wording ideas -- like Symmetry is so yesterday, Cancer: Been There, Beat That, and Stamp Out False Hopelessness.

Seven down -- 73 to go. I can't wait to read more.

Flowers can lift spirits, brighten days, and heal hurting souls. They can actually make us healthier too. And while there is not a lot of science backing this fact just yet, it's long been understood that flowers really do help us Get Well Soon.

In ancient Egypt, physicians ordered walks in gardens for patients with psychological problems. Currently, horticultural therapy is a well-established method of rehabilitation for patients with physical and mental difficulties. Medical institutions all over have created flowering spaces intended as therapeutic gardens. One study determined that 100 percent of women presented with a flower bouquet reacted with a genuine smile that involves the eyes and the mouth and indicates changes in the brain. There was no such common happiness reaction among women presented with other gifts. Further studies found that men also reacted positively to flowers. A study of cardiac patients found flower therapy improved mood and lowered heart rates, possibly reducing stress that contributes to heart disease. It seems some patients seem to forget about their pain when strolling through gardens. They forget about their pain medication too. One flower expert's research brightened her own world at a time when chemotherapy and surgery for breast cancer had her feeling pretty low. Studying flowers gave her a whole new, brighter look at the world.

Flower therapy includes almost any contact with plants. Color, texture, and scent all play a part in the relaxation and healing that results from a little flower time. Why it works is a mystery -- it could be that we associate flowers with pleasure, that flowers fulfill emotional needs, that they are the pets of the horticultural world. We breed them for traits that please us and then capitalize on how they lighten the load and enhance our moods.

The bottom line is this -- we just don't know exactly why or exactly how flowers do what they do. We just know intuitively that they work, that they spread hope and renewal and peace like nothing else.

For more information on the healing power of flowers, pick up a copy of the November 2006 issue of The Oprah Magazine.

There are all sorts of gifts for dad on Father's Day -- shirts and ties and books and coffee mugs and golf balls -- and many of us have already spent money on the stuff we can wrap up and deliver or mail off to dad on this special day. But some gifts -- the ones we can't wrap up -- have an appeal that is priceless because they focus on the moment, they build relationships, and they promote mental and physical health. And here are just seven simple but everlasting gifts to consider sharing with dad on this Father's Day.