My brother’s skin cancer diagnosis came as a rude shock to him, like the splintering light of day on emergence from a subterranean transit station. The edges of reality sharpened. Angles became more acute to the point of cutting. The truth of his life stared him down like an outraged panhandler. What are my priorities? How is my relationship with my children? What is my capacity for joy? For giving? Thanks to early detection, my brother’s cancer was quickly removed and has not reappeared. To simplify their lives, his family moved where his wife holds Native American sweat meetings and he celebrates a less mechanical routine.
-- Dave Alber