Saturday, January 08, 2011

Time Out

On Tuesday, two days before chemo began, my brother, D~ and I drove to NYC to visit our Dad.

He's a little blurry here, but check out the happy policeman behind me, giving the camera the thumbs-up (this picture curtesy of D) :



The elevator to Dad's apartment has mirrored ceilings, for which, I'll admit, I am vainly obsessed:





I went for a run Wednesday morning along the Hudson River. I am not exactly a city person, but in the cold wind and weak but somehow still piercing razzle of the January sun, while listening to heartfelt jazz and outdated hip hop and Gregorian choir music on my iPod, I found myself overcome by admiration for the creative wonder of this human habitat, all its bewildering technology and infrastructure and mess and artistic expression, and felt lucky to be alive. I thought I'd run for half an hour, instead I ran for an hour. Impending chemo will do that to you.

And then I took another picture in the elevator ceiling:



And then I went home and hugged my pooch.

2 comments:

Shannon said...

Oh my - I loved the picture of you smiling with the police man blurred in the distance and the elevator shots!

And well - I wish I had comfort-words to offer that could fill you and warm you like a big bowl of homemade macaroni-n-cheese, but alas, I don't...

A good friend of mine wrote a poem recently after coming out of a very dark season, and thinking about you swimming - y'know the fluidity & ethereal-ness of it all made me think of the poem and about courage and then about you. I love water. It was all connected & wound together in my brain, so I thought I'd share it.

I am the rock
In the bed of the river
Unmoved by the current
That rises above
I am the middle tide
Whose humanity melds
The layered worlds,
Easily felt when the hand
Delicately immerses
Its full length inside
I am the rushing gush
Of the surface
That flows and bangs
Against obstruction,
Whose magnificent
Function continues
Regardless of the obstacle
I Am River

Thinking about you, Amy - and, reading,
Shannon

Anonymous said...

As always..you make me smile and today, weep a bit...beautiful poem from your friend, along with you're smiling, happy face helped bring that on...glad you are living...
Peace~Kerry