On 01.02.02, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Too late for surgery, I had chemotherapy, which failed. In May the chemotherapy was changed and I was soon in remission which was celebrated and welcome and lasted nine years - until October 2011. There was progression in 2011 so more treatment was indicated and I am now back in partial remission. But I'm not only a cancer patient - I also enjoy my family, walk my dogs and am learning to draw and paint. Life is good!

Monday, December 31, 2007

A true story

My online writing teacher offered a prompt that stirred up this old story, very true, that I love to tell.


One New Year's Eve I lived in Berkeley with my husband and one daughter. My mother-in-law was visiting from Illinois. Itchy to watch the ball drop in Times Square, I tried to get a bit of party spirit going in our living room. My husband turned another page, my mother-in-law yawned and my daughter clicked at her Game Boy.

"Come on, you guys," I prodded, "just a little party, it's New Year's Eve." Nothing. Maxwell meowed at the door. I walked over to let him out.

I would have been satisfied with cheddar cheese on Ritz crackers with a glass of brandied eggnog on the side, just that much would have represented "party" to me. Nada. Less than that. They sat there, lumps of inactivity, uncaring that an old year was ending and a new one was less than an hour away.

Maxwell scratched at the door. Sighing, I got up again and opened the door. He strode forward, dropping a dead bird at my feet. "A party, Max? You brought food to share? Hey, guys, Max wants to party! Oh my good boy, you heard me, you actually listened and shopped for the party."

Never was I more connected across species.

I tell that story at least ten times around this time of year.

3 comments:

  1. I love the cat story! I have one too. I was Easter, maybe 30 years ago. My mom lived in a house in the country - lots of wildlife around. My youngest sister went into the bathroom, for obvious reasons. The window was open in there, and while she was seated, Dufus, the old grey tomcat, leaped through the open bathroom window near the loo with a baby bunny in his jaws. There was a general livening up of that party too, especially when my sister was sobbing that the cat had killed the Easter Bunny! Well, it was funny at the time. Cats just want to share, I guess.

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  2. What a lovely sketch and fantastic way to begin the new sketching year!

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  3. Hi you two: I caught you by email, Sherry and still laugh at your story. Sandy - Thank you so much for stopping by. - Barbara

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