A couple of things have happened lately that have had me contemplating mortality and how easily things can change in our lives. The first was the discovery that my brother has tonsillar cancer. It came as quite a shock. Especially since I had thoroughly convinced myself that cancer was not something that would happen in our family.
After all, we have plenty of other “physical” weaknesses to pass on from generation to generation without needing to deal with the prospect of cancer. Our family’s gene pool is full of Alzheimer’s, dementia, heart disease and the ‘addictive’ gene (meaning that: if we digest something that is even slightly addicting—we’ll likely become addicted.)
My brother never smoked or drank that I know of, and has always tried to take care of himself by eating right and exercising. According to one of my sisters, his main drawback was that fact that he was a farmer for a good portion of his adult life and used DDT—apparently a cancer-causing chemical.
Another recent event was discovering that my cousin’s husband was in an accident recently. He was driving his motorcycle down the highway and someone ran into him. He was in intensive care for quite a while, but is now home convalescing. Both of these men have a long recovery period awaiting them—and here I’ve been whining about having the discomfort of a cold this past week.
So, what is the point of this posting? I might ask the same question myself (refer to #1 on family gene-pool list). J.K. (that means 'just kidding' for those without teen-aged daughters). My point is, that we need to appreciate each day and take full advantage of it because we have no promise of tomorrow. Today we're healthy, happy, and the sun is shining. Tomorrow might be something all together different. So, let's all remember to smile and appreciate that sun while it's shining on us.
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