I mean your last day of decent health.
One of wife kitteh's relatives has been diagnosed with a particularly aggressive strain of cancer. He wasn't in good health to begin with and his age is pretty close to the sell-by date for American men, so things look pretty bleak.
He's not religious and doesn't have a whole lot of friends. He's coping with this kick in the head by spending time alone before he has to go for heavy doses of chemo. Once that chemo hits, he might well be down for the count. We're going to give him all the support we can, but he's not very optimistic about his chances and I can understand and respect that.
It got me to thinking what I would do with a similar diagnosis. I decided I would throw as big a dinner party for my Cursillo homies and my family as possible, given the lead time I had. If I had a couple of days, I'd get oysters shipped in from Billy's Seafood in Bon Secour, AL and crawfish from Louisiana Crawfish. I would put out a spread that would blow your mind. I might even make it an open house so people could come and go and we could maximize our guest list.
And that's about it. I'd probably do some writing, something to close off this blog and leave advice for our kids, advice they probably wouldn't use as they'll have a completely different set of challenges from me. Still, leaving the advice would seem like a good thing to do and would bring me closure.
My Cursillo homies would keep me sane. I don't know if you've got an active church community around you, but this one is fantastic. It's like having a mosh pit of love into which you can dive when you're hurt. These folks will carry you around and make sure you know that you're not alone. And, of course, they'd pray like crazy for you.
Yep, the party would be a great thing. It would give me a chance to give love one last time to my friends and family and give them a chance to show love and support to me.
I wonder if you can do chemo with a massive hangover.
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| Crawfish Etouffee would have to be on the menu. |
Sorry to hear that you and the Mrs are facing this. I'm sure you will both come through stronger than ever.
ReplyDeleteSo, 'What would I do with my last (good) day?'
I've asked myself variations of that several times, and although my answers have varied over the years, I always come up with this as my second thought...
"Does it just plain cost so much that Mrs Ohioan would be hard put?" If the answer is "No", then I always I ask myself: "Then what the F are you waiting for?"
That's why I retired at the first chance I got. That's why we added on to our home while the kids were still here. That's why we've gone to a nice set of Major League Ballparks (I guess none this year though). That's why we went to see the last total solar eclipse. It's why we spend as much time as we can with our children and grandchildren.
During this time away from everyone, I've decided to do a lot more hugs, once I can.