Post Number Three
Sunday, July 26, 2009 at 02:19PM ;)
The Unexpected Gift
Tuesday is my 60th birthday. I have spent considerable emotional energy getting ready for this unavoidable milestone. I had worked myself into a positive frame of mind. I was determined to shed my proclivity for whining about such things. I told myself that this was the dawn of a new and wondrous era in my life.
Then we received the news about Terry's illness. Suddenly we are confronted with the reality of our mortality. I am still confident that her cancer will be defeated. The doctors continue to tells us that this confidence is justified. However, the bravado I had assumed regarding my birthday is now gone. What if this cancer had not been discovered? Another month undetected and my present confidence might have been simple denial. We really are mortal. Life for us will someday come to an end; perhaps sooner rather than later.
One thing is now certain. When Tuesday comes I will be receiving a gift I never expected. That gift will be the privilege of driving my wife to her first radiation and chemotherapy. I am quite certain that Terry will not see it as a gift, but it is. It is the gift of hope. It is the first step in a long road to a cure and a complete recovery. It is the gift of opportunity - the opportunity to be the rock for her that I have always wanted to be since we made our wedding promises to one another in 1973.
Dave Gladstone
Reader Comments (2)
Well said, Dad. Love you both!
Dave, your perspective is amazing and touching. You continue to exemplify the strength we all want to show in such a situation. Thank you for being the gift that you are to all of us who are privileged to know you and care about you.