The meaning of permanent

Everything is temporary. A soothing hand on my chest at 4 in the morning accompanies those words.
She was encouraging my equanimity around how all this was playing havoc on my biorhythms: digestion, sleep schedule, everything.
Yes. That is true on all the levels. Me, referring to another dimension of the diagnosis.
I feel something in her hand change, no lessening of the warmth, but a little chill of fear.
Nothing is permanent, I offer. Part of all this is learning that. Part of everyone's life is learning that.
She agrees it's true, knows it already. Life has taught her that in abundance. But we both feel something has been left out in the cold.
I offer something more.
Even when the last people who remembered how we love each other are no longer here, there will be trees and mountains who still feel the attention and love we moved through the world with.
That is the meaning of permanent.