Important to Love

Because I have heard the words “You have Cancer”.  Because I have lost those I love to Cancer.  Because I know how important it is to love.  And because I am on an intense fundraising mission in the next couple of months, I wanted to share this with you.

Annie’s Mailbox

Printed in Saturday, February 02, 2013, Prince George Citizen

Dear Annie:

Two years ago, my wife developed breast cancer.

The cancer was removed, and we’ve been told she will be fine.

We have been married for 41 years, and I am hoping for another 41.  I love my wife more than words can say.  Since her brush with cancer, I have noticed that things that once might have incited a discussion no longer seem to matter.  And I have discovered a number of maladies of my own.

I have, for instance, become deaf to certain things in our marriage.

For instance, she used to say “you know” a lot.  You know? Now I am just thrilled to hear her voice.

Blindness has also invaded our house.

Neither of us notices the petty annoyances that used to bug us. Our marriage is better not that we don’t see so well.

We both have lost our ability to talk, as well.  Once in a while, certain words – hurtful words – used to be thrown around carelessly.

But now, neither one of us has the ability to say such things anymore. And I had no idea that cancer could make a person forgetful.

I can no longer recall any of my wife’s faults.  One thing that has not been affected, though, is my heart.

It still races when I see her.  It still flutters when I hear her voice.  And it still skips a beat when we kiss.

Why must we wait until it is almost too late to appreciate what we have – and could have lost?

- A Little Wiser