Live Big

Saturday I attended the long awaited first home football game and didn't watch a bit of it.

25 years ago a close friend moved to Nashville. They were die hard fans and kept their season tickets. Time passed and the seats got moved around until I looked up one Saturday and they were sitting two rows down from us. They don't come every game but when they do I don't see much of the game.

Last year when we had our annual catch-up visit we held hands and cried through the game. She had just received the news that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her sister had died at the age of 23 with breast cancer and my friend was facing some rough memories and decisions. That day the game went on without us.

Over the next few months we talked for hours on the phone (thank goodness for cell phones and unlimited calling). She elected to have a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. This was radical but with her family history she felt she couldn't take any chances. It was a hard decision and she felt the future was very bleak. However, she went back to work and tried to get her life back in order.

Then life took over. Seldom, does life give you chances to sit around and sulk. This was a case in point. Just when she felt she had faced enough, things started happening quick and fast. Her son met a girl (finally!) and became engaged. Wedding plans started to happen. The bride and my friend and her daughter took a trip to New York to do a little shopping. They flew back home on the last plane to land in Nashville before they closed the airport due to flooding. My friend's 91 year old mother had been evacuated, by boat, from her condo. While the 1000 year flood, as they are calling it in Nashville, didn't reach my friend's home, it changed her life. Her mother moved into her basement with her caregiver, while clean-up proceeds on her condo. The water reached 6 feet inside and it is a mess. Yuk times 100!!

Before all this happened she had committed herself to walk in the Susan G. Komen 3 day walk in Cleveland, where her son lives. So, at 100 degrees she is trying to squeeze in training walks of 10 to 12 miles a day, between attacks on the mud in her mom's condo. She said she thought about giving up, but decided to give it a try. So in July, she flew to Cleveland with her family and lived in a pink tent, slept in a sleeping bag and walked 60 miles in three days. She said it was a wonderful experience and is trying to talk me into going with her next year. She also said she finished with no problems and only lost three toenails. I didn't ask for details.

Did we talk about cancer? Yes, sort of. She asked me how I was doing. I said fine. I asked her how she was doing. She said her check-ups were good. Then we went on with everything else. That's how life is. You deal with your problems the best you can and then get on with life and living. It's all about living. Dying happens to all of us, but the key is to live until that time!

Live big, friends.