Kate’s aunt was in town the other day and I, together with a few other friends, was invited to dinner at her house. Kate is an excellent cook although she is a vegetarian. We had mushroom soup in a clay pot, braised ox tail, baked salmon and a whole bunch of other tasty dishes that evening.

I shall call the aunt by her initials of KH. She is about my age but she looks fifteen years junior in shape and appearance. Although it was only the second time we met, she gave me a big hug as she heard about my serious surgery that happened last year. I told her that I was alright now although I couldn’t remember anything for the twenty-some days after the old plumbing in my body broke.

She said that we should all just count our blessings and enjoy life. She had a really bad car accident when she was in her thirties which landed her in intensive care for over forty days. She jokingly said that so much of her inside was either cut up or patched up that she decided to change the designation on her driver license to non-organ-donor from donor because there was not much left to give away.

Kate, if you remember her from my prior articles, is the same cheerful and caring Kate. She has cancer and she is in pain quite often. But she abides by it, she says. I think one time she said that she’s learned to “co-exist” with that disease.

There is nothing glorifying about bodily pain. Neither KH, Kate nor I purposely chose it. But I think all three of us learned to accept it. Mine was easy. It was miraculously wiped from my brain’s hard drive – my supposedly excruciating surgery was hearsay from my doctors and family. KH’s awful car crash happened long time ago. It’s just an unpleasant memory now. Kate’s cancer is still here and she bravely lives with it every day.

Somebody once asked me, with all the pain and suffering in the world, what I would do and change if I could travel back in time. I named a few natural and important things like falling in love with a pretty girl, making a lot of money that would make me lovable and other selfish wishes like that. In reality, without going back in time to try again, I did manage to impress a cute girl enough to marry me and give me two healthy and handsome boys. I never was smart enough to find a way to amass wealth before I realized that I never could. I was much younger then of course.

Nowadays I just want my friends like KH and Kate to be healthy and well. If my children came to visit this frail old dad periodically while I could still name them that would be good. Lunch or dinner afterward is bonus.

Otherwise I just try to squint at the dawning of a new day when I open my very myopic eyes in the morning. It’s fuzzy but I know it’s beautiful.

*** The End ***

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