Today is a special day. (It was a FABULOUS DAY, a couple of photos! Click to enlarge.)
Lynn & Carol Reunited after 37 years!
Last year about this time, I got word that a childhood friend of my sister Lynn had cancer and that she was terminal and due to go into surgery shortly. The “girls” asked if I would call her. So I did. Amazing how when you have dealt with cancer so intimately you have no reservations on calling someone else and saying, “I heard you have cancer, how are you doing?”
So since none of us had spoken to her in about 30 years it was fun for me to tell her who I was and hear her mind churning. I started with “Hi Carol. This is a BLAST FROM YOUR PAST!” Once she figured out who I was she just couldn’t believe it. We must have talked for about 2 hours.
She has throat cancer, is (WAS) terminal and was supposed to die 2 years earlier. But alas she was still kickin around but was in tremendous pain. So while she didn’t think surgery was worth it initially, but because she was still living well beyond expectation, she decided to get the surgery to help alleviate her pain. It meant that she would lose her voice box and be somewhat disfigured. We both thought it was rather miraculous that I had called the day before she would lose her voice.
Her surgery went better than expected and here we are a year later and we talk from time to time as she has one of those mechanical voice boxes.
The Girls!
Lynn is back from the east coast visiting me again, so today, Lynn, Linda and I are going up to spend the whole day with her and she is beside herself excited. It appears that she has been experiencing what we used to call “Social Death”. Where people sort of disappear from your life when they know you are going to die. They don’t know how to act or what to say. In fact the “girls” are a bit nervous about it, but I have assured them that it is truly a GIFT we are giving her and its one day out of our lives to spend with someone who we care for. I’m quite sure the GIFT will really come to Lynn and Linda from Carol. Lynn will stay and spend the night and I will rendezvous with them the following day to pick her up.
If somehow you are reading my blog and you haven’t or aren’t dealing with cancer, DO reach out to those you know who are and just be kind and be yourself. Do the best you can and you will indeed be better for it. I meet so many people who don’t reach out to those they know with life threatening illness and the regret they feel is profound. I know its scary, but confront it and remember that it will be greatly appreciated by them and their loved ones if you make the effort. Its a marvelous gift of yourself, I promise.
Oregon Creek Swimming Hole
