Today's post is from a co-worker and friend of mine in New Jersey. I hope his story makes you think about what you are doing with the time you have left on Earth. It certainly made me. Go ahead Bernie......
The end of the year is closing in on us. I am constantly reminded of how good life can be. This year will go down as one of the best of my life. I got to enjoy it at a new pace. I would have never thought that turning 41 this year could make time slow down, especially with two very active boys. It is hard to imagine with what seemed like everyday there was something going on in our lives. There were scheduled baseball or basketball games, homework, practices, work and so much more. For many years my time was usually spinning like a top out of control, but this year was different. This year my family and I got the chance to slow down and appreciate life. As the saying goes, we were able to “slow down and smell the roses.”
For twelve years now I’ve been keeping a little journal at work for some of the important events that occur during the year. I write little notes on the special things that might have happened to me or my family or even big news like the Phillies winning the World Series. I have tried to write something down every week. I was looking back at last year’s journal and could not help to notice all the empty pages of September through December 2008. The impact of those missing days will forever be remembered as a turning point in my life. The last entry in my 2008 journal was Labor Day. The note was simple, it read, “Party Laskeys.” The missing edited pages there after could not tell the story that lied ahead for me.
The day after Labor Day I was admitted to the hospital with some pain. The pain went away the following day but the x-ray that remained had a whole new story. The cat-scan showed a mysterious mass inside my body. The mass would change my life forever. The mass eventually turned out to be cancer. A dreaded word! Cancer! I’m 41 years old, don’t smoke. There must be a mistake. There was no mistake. I was diagnosed with type three testicular cancer and was given an immediate date for surgery and a schedule of chemotherapy soon after. I would spend the next three months of my life giving blood, going to doctors and being completely exhausted from 5 days a week of 5 hours of chemotherapy. Time stood still for those months.
I began to feel hope as an effective word in my life. I began to feel prayer working both physically and mentally in my life. I can’t begin to tell the unbelievable story of support my family received from my community. It was overwhelming. I would take pages to give an understanding of the support we received from my employer as well. I was flabbergasted at the overall support mentally, socially and even financially from nearly everyone I knew. It changed my thinking of all the people in my life from that moment on. It shone a new light on my life that would make me eternally grateful.
My last chemo session was December 29, 2008. I would be able to enjoy a New Year chemical-free and at that point cancer free. I began to appreciate my community, my family and my friends more after that difficult period of my life. Life was passing me by at a quick rate and I didn’t realize it until I sat in a cancer treatment chair for months. Nowadays I find myself wanting to talk to neighbors more extensively, to write down more information in my journal, to be in the company of good friends more often and especially make the time I spend with my family not just time spent but making that time more quality time. I find myself enjoying the simpler moments of life. I have found the importance of the slowing down and appreciating everything. I found the time to smell the roses.
