Birdhouse in Your Soul

I don’t want to jinx it, but I think it’s going to be a great night out tonight. Close friends are cooking me a belated birthday dinner (ZD, EK, KC), and then a bunch of people are going to celebrate with me at El Vez. I hope a lot of people are going to be celebrating; I cast a wide net as far as invitations went. This is one of the best birthdays ever. I felt the love from all over the place.

However, since I can rarely just be happy in the moment, there is something else weighing on my mind. One of my best friends from law school (AM) was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I think about it all the time. Although, the diagnosis is malignant, the prognosis seems very positive. Also positive is the victim herself. I am not shocked, but then again, this is the girl who sobbed every finals period in law school and needed to be talked through many a crisis (including ones having to do with Pol Pol, Office Space and a man simply called Corporations). She’s much better at handling this than anything I have ever had to see her face ( and i worked with her during Hell Summer 2003); so, I am trying to emulate her and her attitude throughout this. I am still scared as hell. Though, I did tell her I refuse to be her friend if she gets too fat.

So, it really puts things in perspective. As people gather by my side (whether physically or spiritually) to celebrate a nice moment in my life, people are doing the same for AM for completely different and decidedly more tragic reason. We’re lucky to have the friends we have.

The silver lining for her? We promised one another that if the one of us died or was diagnosed with a terminal illness that the other (non-dead or non-diagnosed) would run a marathon in the other’s honor. I don’t know what I was thinking. But, it’s a good thing I bought new sneakers today…