“Well I can't be bothered with sorrow, 
and I can't be bothered with hate, 
I'm using up my time by feeling fine ev'ry day. 
That's why I'm telling you, 
I Just Want To Celebrate …”

--Rare Earth

After spending a delightful long weekend with our old pal Stew Auyash, we entered the Four Winds Cancer Clinic on Wednesday morning a little earlier than usual – around 8:30 a.m. I was happy to be there early enough to claim my favorite orange chair but the real reason is because this is an all-day chemo run and it’s nice to be done with it before 5 p.m. when the rush hour traffic is at its peak.

“Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn
anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.”

David Whyte, “Sweet Darkness”

Twice this week I have been rendered alive and speechless by dear friends who also happen to be valued colleagues.

The first episode of speechlessness occurred when Amira de la Garza shared with me the progress she, Bob Krizek, and Nick Trujillo have made getting commitments from scholars for a festschrift based on/been influenced by my work. For those readers unfamiliar with the sometimes serious, sometimes comic academic genre know as a “festschrift,” click here.  Details for the volume edited by Bob, Amira, & Nick:

“Which are the magic

moments in ordinary

time? All of them,

for those who can see.”

--Tim Dlugos, “Ordinary Time”

This has been a week of good news, visits, gifts, a graduation, and much happiness. We are truly blessed and very grateful each and every day. And blessed also for the wonder of another starry, starry night.

The good news was reported on Facebook right after we received it from Dr. Robin on Wednesday afternoon – my CA 19/9 marker is reduced by half, from a high of 1900 to 908 – which is a good sign as this marker has been an accurate index of my rogue cells. This week’s treatment will be followed by another blood test in 11 days, just before the “final” treatment, by which time – fingers crossed – we hope to be cancer-free again and get a little time off from chemo.

The first sign of trouble with our air conditioning was on Monday and it was an obvious sign: adjusting the thermostat down to 78 degrees didn’t produce the usual start-up whir of a electric motor nor the reassuring whip-whip-whip of a fan. Adjusting it down further – to 75, then to 70, then all the way down to 60 met with the same aural absence and a gradual admission that, in fact, we had a problem.

In Arizona we respect air conditioning. It’s May but last weekend the temperatures hit 105 degrees Fahrenheit. This week we were experiencing a cool spell; daytime temps are still in the mid-90s. Yes, it is a dry heat. So is the heat in your oven.

Ah, the things we take for granted until … we can’t.

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