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Nothin’ But Blue Skies
It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun-shiny day
“Look all around, there’s nothin’ but blue skies,” sings Johnny Nash. “It’s gonna be a bright bright sun-shiny day.”
“Don’t worry, be happy,” sings Bobby McFerrin. “‘Cause when you worry your face will frown, and that will bring everybody down. So, don’t worry, be happy.”
Those are great thoughts. When we get up in the morning, are we a half-full person or a half-empty person? Do we see the world from the perspective of all the things we should be grateful for, or do we see only the things we don’t have, or are unable to do?
But much as we believe in hope and blue skies, we also know that adversity, hardship, sickness and disease are a part of life. Sometimes, like a black thundercloud, they cast a fleeting shadow on us as we hurry along.
And sometimes . . . sometimes . . . they leap, unsuspecting, full upon us.
I know many dear ones who have wandered life’s uncertain maze, who have felt the hot breath of illness, sorrow, and fear close upon their necks. Yet it never took much skin off my own back.
Until now.
In May of 2023, at the age of sixty-eight, I was diagnosed with cancer.