Being There

Our weekly Thursday post from Boyfriend.

One of my oldest friends had brain surgery yesterday. Serious brain surgery the kind that can make you live or can make you die. Last summer he suffered some stroke-like symptoms and after several weeks in the hospital doctors concluded that he had a condition that caused blood to leak into his brain stem. This is fixable, but only by the doctors operating on his brain. The best case is they go in and pretty easily fix it. The range of options for the surgery range from slight to not being alive anymore.


Serious business involving someone you love can cause a lot of deep thought. Appreciate what you have. Don’t regret your mistakes too much, learn from them and try not to repeat them. Make your future brighter everyday

What you have is easy to take for granted. I have health and love in my life. It is easy to forget that if you add shelter to this equation you are pretty much set. As you, gentle readers, might know, I have nicely painted and decorated shelter. So really what could I honestly complain about.

My friend Joe and I have been great friends for nearly 20 years. We have shared a lot of experiences. Some have been awesome, amazing, special life-changers like him getting married to his perfect mate. Others, not so incredible like raising the hackles of the PC police in an overly sensitive college town. Perhaps we did some things that given our age and life experience we would not try again, I’m pretty sure we would do the same thing the same way, because that is what taught us to be who we are now. No regrets, just don’t do stupid things too many times over.

Finally, I have been thinking about what lies ahead. The future is never limited. Yes, I am pragmatic and measured. I am not naive enough to think that whatever I hope for will happen. The future is foggy and will bring what it will. It is up to me to try my hardest to make it bright and positive. What I can do is put forth as much effort as I have to make the future everything I can.

I wasn’t there in person to help Joe through his surgery. I have been thinking about him and the surgery for the last couple of days. Joe is resting comfortably in post op. Things look good for him. I can breath a sigh of relief now and really appreciate everything I have and what will come in the future.


photo: via Joe's flickr, chosen because it's how Boyfriend thinks of Joe.