Saturday, August 24, 2024

The Wrong Type of Battleship

Lately, my life feels like a game of Battleship.  

There are near misses everywhere, or so it seems, as almost every day I hear about another friend who is seriously ill.  I'm determined to believe this isn't endemic to my age group.  Rather, it's just a bad stretch we're going through.

Last week, Alice's partner, Jerry, was in the hospital.  Mid-week, I found out that my friend, Scott, has been diagnosed with abdominal cancer.  Annie, Jude's friend, has lymphoma, and is in the hospital.  Yesterday, I learned that my fellow lawyer and friend for 30 years, Gary, has colon cancer.  JP also told me a father of a senior at school died of a heart attack this week.  Meanwhile, a week before my 40th high school reunion, my high school classmate, Dave, is dying of a brain tumor in Louisville, Kentucky.

I mean, what in the damn hell?!?

So much illness.  So much death.  I don't understand it.  

I feel like my personal prayer list grows and grows, as I add more people and families to it on what seems like a daily basis. 

All of these illnesses and deaths have a ripple effect, of course.  They directly impact children, wives and husbands, relatives, and friends.  

When will it end?

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