Today marks 11 years since Trevor “went under the knife” to have a cancer removed.
As I remember those days now it is the days prior to the surgery that come to mind most readily.
The after-hours phone call from the GP that rocked our world. The times of wondering what the outcome would be. Would this be the end of a healthy, happy life and the start of a descent into a terrible and painful death? How much time did we still have to share? Would Trevor see our children grown and married?
Try as we did, the stark reality of what we were facing was hard to put out of our minds. The value of what we already had stared us in the face as we realised we may be about to lose it all.
Difficult times followed. ..The surgery and then the radiotherapy that sapped energy and eventually resulted in extreme and messy discomfort.
Then the waiting and the apprehension as we marked the time between each scan and test result as the months and then years rolled on.
Eleven years on there are two main after-effects from the experience.
One is the lasting scar that Trevor bears-a physical reminder which brings to mind the other effect.
The second is the ongoing sense of wonder at the gift we have in our lives together and what feels like a second chance. We value what we have in our relationship and are mindful of how easily it could be lost. We live in the knowledge that we do not control how long we live. The pattern of our lives has been shaped by a sense of the worth of each breath we take together. Our early retirement is a direct result of this ever-present knowledge.
We are driven to take each moment as we can. To experience each other and what life has to offer. We take up opportunities to travel, see, do, love. We revel in our increased time together in retirement.
Sometimes we have lost sight of this wonder in life, this second chance. We’ve got so busy that we have been blinded from this simple truth.
Sometimes we have forgotten to value each other as we should.
But we keep on coming back to that sense of wonder that we have in our life and relationship and the recognition that what we have is precious and irreplaceable.
I feel grateful for that time eleven years ago, and for other hard times in life that serve as reminders to us that what we have is amazing, priceless and irreplaceable. On this, and every day, we should reflect what is truly important in this life by the use of our time and by our actions.
Luvapuzzle 