NOLA Notes

My dear friend who’d been struggling with lymphoma died last night. She learned of her cancer in October and initially expected to beat it in these nine months. This is a second friend of mine to die of cancer in as many months. She recently celebrated her 65th birthday. I just finished reading “Life of Pi,” and here is a quote from it:

Oncoming death is terrible enough, but worse still is oncoming death with time to spare, time in which all the happiness that was yours and all the happiness that might have been yours becomes clear to you. You see with utter lucidity all that you are losing. The sight brings on an oppressive sadness that no car about to hit you or water about to drown you can match. The feeling is truly unbearable.

Those are my feelings on what it would be like to die of cancer over a nine-month period. These were not her feelings. She told me over six months ago that she was ready to go–that she had lived a good life and had seen her son grow up, marry and adopt a son. She was always full of life and handled her cancer with dignity and strength. She never once complained (other than about one nurse who talked too much) and always saw the positive side of things–like fitting into her “skinny jeans” again and being able to sun bathe a lot having moved to Arizona recently to live near her son.

That is how I will remember her–floating around in a pool soaking in the sun, sipping on a cool, refreshing cocktail–and I will smile when I think of her.

Cheers to you, sweetie.