I have come to the conclusion that as the Eastern Faiths teach, it is important to stay in the "here and now." At my current age of 56 and being a three cancer survivor (including a recurrence) I have learned not to turn back and waste my energy on the questions like "why me." From [...]
There has been a lot of press around the recent announcement that Senator Kennedy has brain cancer. The papers I have read and news reports have been good (very surprisingly) about not making any predictions pertaining to his future. Of course, there have been veiled allusions about what the cost of his death would mean [...]
From a unknown source: "Watch out! You nearly broad sided that car!" My father yelled at me. "Can't you do anything right?" Those words hurt worse than blows. I turned my head toward the elderly man in the seat beside me, daring me to challenge him. A lump rose in my throat as I averted [...]
We all want to leave behind a legacy. No matter how rich or poor you are the best legacy we can gift our children and our community is our values. Through an ethical will we all can leave a true, personal legacy of our values and love. You can all write an ethical will that [...]
One a clear night when I go outside and look up into the sky I can't help but think that all the stars I see are so many light years away. Some of the stars may no longer be in existence even though I can still see them so clearly. To me they still look [...]
There was a man who took great pride in his beard. Each morning he awoke and spent at least one hour admiring it in the mirror. His beard had won many contests and his mantle was full of first place trophies. One morning he awoke and was very surprised when he gazed into the mirror. [...]
"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else." -Emily Dickinson
At some point in our lives we all are going to face death. For those of us who are current survivors of advanced prostate cancer our death may come from our cancer, or it could come from another unrelated cancer, or a heart problem or any number of other causes. One thing is guaranteed we [...]
"Another thing you get as a cancer patient is a lot of football-coach patter. "You can beat this; you can win; you're strong; you're tough; get psyched." I suspect that cancer doesn't give a rat's ass whether you have a positive mental attitude. It just sits in there multiplying away, whether you are admirably stoic [...]
My Dearest Hugh: The world feels shrunken without you. When I go out, I feel like a massive presence is missing. I'm talking about you, Hughie. Am happy for you, but sad for me. For your eulogy, I chose to talk about my favorite poem, and specifically, my favorite verse. "On My First Son" is [...]
