4 to 6 Weeks

Sigh…

It is amazing the range of emotions I go through while riding.

Tom was told last week, “the chemo is not helping anymore, we are going to stop it and make you comfortable. You have 4-6 weeks.”

No, I guess it wasn’t really that cold when he relayed the info to me but is was that abrupt, at least to me. Since this post in October of ’07. I had gotten used to him being sick and not dying. It’s been 18 months since that ‘Stage IV’ post and he’s still here, I had become complacent. Now …

When I left his house this evening, I was in a rage. If I could have gotten to a computer then, this would have been a VERY different post. But a bit of a ride and some tears on the inside of my ridding glasses and I don't need to kill anything. I want to remember. I want you to know.

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I’d guess about 7 years ago we (me and my family) were a little tight for money. So, I got a second job. I think I was making $8 an hour as a cashier in a Shell station. As football season came around, I was grumpy that I was missing all of the football games, not just the Steelers. See, I was working 10 hours Saturday and Sunday, plus 8 hours 2 or 3 days a week making ‘the shell station’ almost another full time job.

On Sundays (with my Managers permission) I started bringing a 13 inch tv to work. I would at least get to watch whatever game was on the local airwaves. Amazingly, quite a few were Steelers games. Customers would loiter and watch the game for a few minutes, once they figured I was going to do this regularly some would drop their wives off to get groceries then ‘go get gas in the car’. Heh, amazingly ‘getting gas’ would take just as much time as the whole grocery trip. One of those regulars was Tom. He is a Steelers fan. We got to the point where he’d stop at Subway and bring us sandwiches for the late games. He was a Marine… we became friends.

Tom, my friend, this is going to be a tough month. For both of us. Like another friend of mine says, “you are where you are suppose to be”. I am so glad I decided to work at that gas station.

God bless, God’s peace. I will not forget you.