Getting back to normal

It's Thursday mourning coffee time.  I've worked out, read the Bible, read Bill Bryson's (A Short History of Nearly Everything), and taken out the trash..  Life is really different than a year ago. 

The house is empty,  Gay is busy as a high school math teacher, Savannah has moved to New Orleans working on a MBA at Tulane, Jeremy is attending the USAFA Prep school, and Sean is studying abroad in New Zealand.  

Last night I watched a Barbra Walters interview with Patrick  S. The guy from Dirty Dancing.  He has been battling pancreatic cancer for the last ten months.  The fact that the fight has lasted that long is a miracle.  Listening to the interview with Patrick and his wife brought back the thoughts and feelings of my own struggle over the last 19 months.   Life with cancer is fast and furious filled with despair and hope.  You find out who your friends are and remember the person you are and who you want to be.  

I am very content with who I am.  When you are diagnosed with cancer it's like being given an hour glass and the sand is the days left of your life.  Much of that time s taken up with things out of your control.  However, some is yours.  How to use it is personal.  Some people choose to watch in terror as the sands of time slip by fearing what is to come.  Others, like Patrick choose life.  Embracing the time you have, living the moment.  Not letting the disease control you.  In the book of Matthew Jesus asks us,"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"  Knowing that my life is in God's hands takes the pressure off.  So like Patrick, while I am here and able I choose to live.  I will enjoy life the way it was meant to be.  I have learned to be content taking each day as a gift looking forward to and planning for the future but not at the expense of today.  

With all that said, I am exercising  hard using a program called P90x.  I may be stronger than I was before the chemotherapy.  Mentally I'm reading more than ever trying to keep up with my extremely intelligent children.  I've been  taking photographs and honing photoshop skills.  A good picture really is worth a thousand words.  I'm also preparing to coach high school girls Lacrosse.  Imagine 25 to 30 teenage girls setting aside differences working together to achieve a common goal.  Sounds easy, right?   Easy or not, it most certainly will be entertaining.

On the professional side I haven't flown a jet since May 2007.  I now instruct on the Boeing 757/767 aircraft.  Learning a new plane has been fun as well as challenging.  Hopefully the doctor working on getting the FAA to allow me to fly again will succeed soon.  I think flying international routes will be fun.  It is something I haven't done at Delta yet.

Until next time live large and give thanks to do so!

Tom