BEFORE THE DEADLY DIAGNOSIS

  BEFORE THE DEADLY DIAGNOSIS

We are grateful for,

and appreciative of

the quality of life we own,

the gift of each day,

the opportunity to live life

to its fullest.

Was life, just life,

ever so real, so near, so present,

indeed, so important,

before the deadly diagnosis?

Is that what it takes?

How sad.

John A. Bayerl, October 9, 2009

This is another Friday evening, and I am once again filled with the melancholy feeling I always get when I remember how wonderful Friday nights were for Gwen and me, both before our marriage and all though it.  Tonight it's as though her spirit and presence are everywhere.  That's a good thing in a lot of ways.  

Yesterday I was taken aback when I realized that Monday was December 12, a year and a month since Gwen died.  And, it slipped right by me.  In a way that is a good thing, a sign that things are changing.  On the other hand, I don't ever want that date to become just another day.  

My poem about our life before you were diagnosed with cancer, Dear, is a reminder about how important life is and how we try never to take it for granted, even now.  The poem was written on your birthday; a good time to remember the importance of this one wild life we are given.