Post by Celera on Dec 24, 2008 1:13:00 GMT -5
Even though I haven't been around much, I can't let the holiday go by without leaving a note for all of you who still stop by here at least from time to time.
I'm not much of a Christmas person, as some of you know. It seems to have become too much about the giving of gifts -- many of them useless and unwanted -- and not enough about anything else. But this year is different, as it happens.
A lot seems to be going on at once, but the main thing is that my very closest friend has liver cancer, which has spread to his lungs, and his doctors have told him he has maybe a year to live. The lung cancer seems to be growing fast -- I don't really think he will see another Christmas.
I know death is a part of life, and as we get older, losing people we love is increasingly part of the ordinary course of events. But this person is part of my heart and mind and it is uniquely unsettling to imagine a world without him in it.
I'm not sharing this so you will feel sorry for me -- I'm sure some of you have been through similar things, and most of you will go through something like it eventually. But if you catch yourself getting caught up in gift-buying, or in noting who forgot to send you a card, or whether the pie crust is properly flaky, please remember that none of that matters.
I hope all of you will be surrounded, as I will be, by friends and loved ones, including the people we love in spite of their abundant flaws and exasperating ways. Try to see the good in each of them, and the beauty of imperfection, and have a truly wonderful Christmas. This particular year will never come again.
I'm not much of a Christmas person, as some of you know. It seems to have become too much about the giving of gifts -- many of them useless and unwanted -- and not enough about anything else. But this year is different, as it happens.
A lot seems to be going on at once, but the main thing is that my very closest friend has liver cancer, which has spread to his lungs, and his doctors have told him he has maybe a year to live. The lung cancer seems to be growing fast -- I don't really think he will see another Christmas.
I know death is a part of life, and as we get older, losing people we love is increasingly part of the ordinary course of events. But this person is part of my heart and mind and it is uniquely unsettling to imagine a world without him in it.
I'm not sharing this so you will feel sorry for me -- I'm sure some of you have been through similar things, and most of you will go through something like it eventually. But if you catch yourself getting caught up in gift-buying, or in noting who forgot to send you a card, or whether the pie crust is properly flaky, please remember that none of that matters.
I hope all of you will be surrounded, as I will be, by friends and loved ones, including the people we love in spite of their abundant flaws and exasperating ways. Try to see the good in each of them, and the beauty of imperfection, and have a truly wonderful Christmas. This particular year will never come again.