This is going to take awhile, so please be patient with me.
Years and years ago, soon after Dave started this website, a poster by the name of jimmykc (couldn't figure out why a guy from Kansas City was a Husker bball fan) started a thread called Enjoy Every Sandwich. I wondered what the heck he was talking about. Well, it was a reference to Warren Zevon's dealing with cancer. When you're diagnosed with it, that's what you do. All the little things, no matter how small, take on new meaning. You learn an appreciation for them. Jimmy, at that time, told us about the battle he was facing. Thank you, my friend, for sharing the beginning of that war. Had you not done that, I wouldn't have known you were victorious at battle's end.
I wish I could tell you that I'm facing that same battle against cancer, but I can't. I would trade places in a heartbeat. My 23 year old son Seth has been diagnosed with MDS--Myelodysplastic Syndromes. It's in the leukemia family. (kind of the same way that Baal is in the Beelezubub family). He's a trooper. He's spent two weeks at UNMC, undergone 3 bone marrow biopsies, 15 blood transfusions and numerous other tests. And guess what? He's still working! And always has a smile on his face. I love that kid!
So why am I sharing? Several reasons. 1) Don't sweat the little stuff. I mean," why didn't you throw your dirty clothes in the hamper" bitching really sucks. 2) I don't care how old you are, you're not guaranteed tomorrow. 3) focus on the important things--God, family and doing good. And last, but most importantly, when Seth is completely healed, God is gonna get a big High Five!
Speaking of "High Five, A Cancer Survivor's Poetic Journey" page 55.
"Medicine is the art of taking strangers' problems
and treating them like your own.
Poetry is the art of taking your own problems
And sharing them with strangers."
Thanks, jimmy.