Cancer care package

The box came right before I had to leave for a colonoscopie, a cheery way to start a less-than cheery day.The green customs form had a long list but I resisted reading it so I would be surprized. Some of the things inside:

Penguins: a card with a penguin smelling a flower, the DVD for Happy Feet, etc.
Mandalas: My friend could not have known how big a part of the Geneva Writers Group classes they have been.

Crayolas: No European crayons are this good. And I needed some of the names for something I’m writing not to mention doing the colouring of the things she sent.
Moisturizers: Things that make chemo go easier

My friend wrote she wished she could have sent herself. I imagined a tiny version of her that I ran under the faucet and her growing to life size so we could continue on our good times such as cookies and castles in Carcassonne or deer coming up to the car on Long Island.

Ours is unlikely friendship if you consider our political views (does each of us hold a secret desire to convert the other?), but our values are the same and our respect for the differences just makes our conversations all that more interesting.

We are a perfect example of agreeing to disagreeing and laughing about it.

We met for business reasons, had business dinners where we got the work issues out of the way as fast as we could so we could get onto the good stuff to talk about.

Visits back and forth strengthened the friendship.

Of course in the beginning as we set at Mortimer’s eating chocolate cake maybe a decade ago, we had no idea that her talents included putting a great cancer care package together.

The colonoscopie went fine. It was over, but what continued was the pleasure not just for the gifts for the thoughtfulness.

I've no idea how people can get through life without friends, it is a lesson I never want to learn.