So we went to visit a friend last weekend recently diagnosed with cancer

[hatredisnotavalue]

I was really dreading the visit. It was the first time I had seen her and her husband since she got the news. I did up a care package, organic dried soup mixes, Project Runway and Lost (Season one and two) CDS and some live Dead in concert CDs.

Funny thing is it was one of the best afternoons of my life. I asked them how they came to be together and what their life was like 30 years ago. They brought out pics of when they were living off the land with no power and bathing in a galvanized tub in the kitchen. Both were anxious to tell a story about that time. We just laughed and laughed until our sides hurt.

My morale of this story is don't ever shy away from friends in need and people in need usually need a good laugh more than anything you can bring.

[havocmom]

1. Great post - great moral to the story

For some, a serious health issue sorta brings the important thing of life to the forefront. Friends are at the top of the list. Good to cut through the mundane and just celebrate life, isn't it?

Thanks for the post. Did my ol heart some serious good... I get to visit with my very best friend here shortly.

[hatredisnotavalue]

2. Thanks...is that Kurt in your avatar?

I am re-reading him right now, starting with Slaughterhouse Five. Thanks for your kind comments!

[havocmom]

3. Yeah, Vonnegut. The world got a little less sane when he passed.

:cry:

[hatredisnotavalue]

4. so true ! n/t

[NC_Nurse]

5. That is so heartening!

What a great thing to remind us of. Thank you. :hug:

[darkstar]

6. Thanks for the story...

And sharing its positive outcomes. You sound like a good friend. And your friend sounds like...me. Into Lost and the Dead and sure I would dig the soups. But most curiously, my wife kind of got us hooked on Project Runway. We don't have cable now and haven't for a while. I kind of jonesing to see the season we missed more than her.

Well. What the hell. Didn't mean to make this about me. Thanks again for your story. And have your frined, who is a lot like me, see, give YOU a big old hug for spreading the love around, OK?

:hi:

[SmokingJacket]

7. Thank you for posting this...

I think sometimes we shy away from difficult situations because we think we have to "solve" them, somehow, or at least make things better. (I know that's what I do.) But really, all we really have to do is show up and be.

[hatredisnotavalue]

8. Thanks for all of your kind posts.

They were over at our house today for a beer. Prognosis doesn't look good. I guess it's the former newspaper reporter in me, that I pump her for information on the illness and she just talks on and on about it. She is a very quiet, introverted person and I know she feels better talking. Frankly, I don't think she is as open with her immediate family as she is with me. We are not really close friends, but I can tell she needs to talk to someone about her cancer.

Again, she loves telling stories about her early marriage years. We got laughing again today that just about split my sides.

[flamingyouth]

9. That's a really nice story. Thanks for sharing it.

When I was diagnosed with cancer, my fiance and I really appreciated the people who came around right away and didn't seem afraid to talk and laugh. I'm sorry about your friend's prognosis; that sucks. :(

[wildhorses]

10. nice story.

thanks for sharing it.

[MonkeyFunk]

11. Good for you

one of the hardest parts for people diagnosed with cancer (or other oft-fatal diseases) is the isolation. It's not that people are uncaring - it's that people don't know what to say or do for them, and thus avoid them, which can be devastating.

How nice you were able to share this day with her. I hope there'll be many more.

[supernova]

12. That's sweet of you

Yes, anybody who is ill, really does appreciate just the company. :-)