Isn't it amazing?

I went to a celebration event last night in honor of a friend of mine who beat cancer. A year ago he was diagnosed with it and now he’s completely destroyed it. I think that’s just amazing. He described some of the medical procedures he had to go through and they sounded truly barbaric. They did save his life however. And as he said, he’s now here drawing breath.

It made me think of some of the other miracles I’ve witnessed. I’ve seen my Uncle beat cancer and several other ailments along the way at a time when those in the medical profession didn’t give him much of a chance. I’ve seen children come back from brink and who are now vibrant with childhood enthusiasm. I’ve seen near misses with car accidents and heard stories of amazing triumph in bleak situations.

I thought about my personal miracles as well. There were times where I just missed an accident or ducked just at the right moment. Is it some sort of cosmic timing or sheer luck? Are miracles wrought upon us by a higher intelligence or is it merely the luck of the draw? Is it a micro-second of two microscopic cells that just happen to be in the right place at the right time that defines our very existence and that decide our mathematical fate?

I don’t know. Who could know a thing like that? All we can do is appreciate the gravity of those miracles and do our best to accept them. So I was glad to be at the celebration last night; sharing with others how really amazing it is to survive something as terrible as cancer.  It was also one of those times that I felt my own mortality creeping in and that I should take better care of myself, although the hedonist in me almost always tries to ruin my plot for self-preservation.

So as I sit here in my cube, marveling at the wonders of the miracles all around us I feel terribly confined and as if my life is lacking any real meaning or adventure.  Then I think that it’s a miracle that I’m here at all and I should be grateful. What a terrible enigma to be wrapped up in; life is precious, but often boring. I am glad I have a sense of humor about it all, otherwise I’m sure I would have taken a hostage long ago and demanded buckets of ice cream and cheesecake and a chopper to take me to Brazil.  

Anyway, I’m very happy my friend is on recovery road and has beaten a disease that so often destroys. I never really had any doubts he wouldn’t beat it. It was in the bag. Now, onto the next miracle; The Great Disappearing Hangover.