I ran into a friend downtown today who I haven’t seen in a
while. He asked how I was doing. “Cancer hasn’t returned?” he queried.
“Nope,” I replied, “not so far. It’s been nearly a year since
the last time I was diagnosed and I’m feeling pretty good.”
“Life isn’t fair,” he stated flatly, referring to the fact
that I had cancer in the first place. He always says the same thing to me when
we meet. It’s because he cares.
“Life’s fair,” I responded. And when he looked me in the eye
as if I had lost my marbles, I continued. “Things could be so much worse than
they are. I hope my cancer doesn’t come back, but I’m still alive and right now
I feel good. I’m happy with that.”
“Yup,” he said. “You’re right. Things could have been a
whole lot worse.”
And then we moved on to other topics. But I know we will
have this same conversation the next time I see him because we have had it
since I was first diagnosed more than 11 years ago.
Just prior to this conversation, another friend - who has retired and feels better now than she has in years – talked about the various ailments
she had while working that have now nearly disappeared with medication and
exercise. “We are all at the age where we have something wrong,” she said. “It’s
just a matter of what that ‘something’ is.”
I certainly could not disagree with her!! It seems that
everyone I know, both younger and older, are developing some kind of physical
(or mental) issue. Fortunate (and rare) are those who reach retirement age and
have had nothing serious to complain about up until this point. You know, I
have told myself many times that if I was given the opportunity to choose
between the cancer that I have been blessed with and some of the other illnesses
that plague my friends, I would keep what I have. At least I have a reprieve
between recurrences, where I feel like there is nothing wrong with my body.
Some of my friends don’t get that break; and many can’t remember how it feels
to not be in pain. My heart goes out to them.
But for me – at least at this point in time – life is fair. I
will continue to pray that my cancer does not return. But if it does, I’ll just
dig deep in my trunk for a supply of ‘get me through it’ strength and cross
that bridge when I come to it.
Until next time …..
~ B-Optimistic ~
Posts
