Not Totally My Story to Tell

But somehow I have to tell my part of it.


Yes today is Valentine's Day.  And my parents get together with their friends every February 14th.  They wear red or pink or white.  They have a delicious dinner.  And they celebrate Love.  Being that all these people have been married for like 40+ years, I find this event to be remarkable......inspiring....and pretty much super cute.


Today there was an empty chair.  One member, as his wife puts it, "gave his last checkmark" today.  He exhaled and didn't inhale.


Stupid cancer.


PJ was a very close friend of our family.  He was especially a close confidant of Dad.  His wife is a Smile on Legs.  Frankly both PJ and his wife cornered the market in Sparkling Eyes and even More Sparkling Hearts.

And it is a well known fact that I like shiny things.  

So this morning one of those shiny things went dark. And I can only imagine that a shadow has been placed on his partner, his lover, his wife.


Many people go through their lives making poor use of their talents.  Many others go through life without doing what they love.  Many people endure but don't enjoy.

PJ was NOT one of those people. 

I have no idea why but when someone amazing gets taken by cancer, I always think of the song "King of Pain" by The Police.  Seriously - I have no idea why that song comes to mind.  I guess it just makes me think of souls and pain and the world turning circles around my brain.

Or maybe it is just the opening line:

"There's a little black spot on the sun today"

If you want to hear the song that haunts me, I  like this version.  In this particular moment, I think of Sting as PJ, his co-singer as his lovely wife.  I think of Dad as the conductor.

I think of the Orchestra as All of Us who have ever been smacked upside the head by by Cancer - the True King of Pain.