cancer
We take it for granted, a social convention, wishing a Happy New Year. This year the words did not flow for me. I was visiting a close relative, about my age, recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and undergoing a severe treatment regime.
Dying isn't a decision, and the fight for survival is not a fight, where the more pugilistic are destined to win. I think of Sunny now with her rosary beads, as I last saw her - staunchly convinced that her God would show her mercy. But it doesn't matter how relentlessly optimistic you are - just as it doesn't make any difference how many chia seeds you eat.
