I received a message from God

[ms_ann_thrope]

Written in cursive in white chalk on a black chalkboard restaurant sign- the home of the marvelous muffin.

I just always thought I would live forever, not so much anymore.

OMG, I've never seen so many sick people in one place in all my life. I was playing guess who is the sickest. Lots of couples, one usually wearing a white gauze band in the crook of the elbow. Lots of grim.

Home for a short day and then back to the big house. Monday they cut. The list of what could go wrong is extensive but I can't really think about it. Yet all I can do is think about it.

Oh. The message?

In the end be your own hero because everyone else is busy trying to save themselves.

Not sure what it means. That's the trouble with divine instruction.
You don't know the consequence until the lightning bolt hits you.

 

[CyranoJ]

Well, whatever the meaning, it's a pretty great quote.

Best of luck with the surgery. I'm watching a friend go through cancer treatment right now -- the little-hope-but-we'll-try-anyway kind -- and if just being an onlooker is this brutal I surely can't imagine what it feels like to actually be the patient.

 

[hashtag45]

Good luck , Ann.
Hope you'll have a speedy recovery after your surgery.

 

[Noor]

Not staying in Rochester for the weekend?

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

Too much to get settled. Have to go to a wedding tomorrow and be charming. Wasn't anticipating anything happening so quickly.

Have to dig out my living will.

Wash underwear, you know, the important stuff. Mom would insist I have clean underwear.

 

[eyer]

In the end be your own hero because everyone else is busy trying to save themselves.

You sure that wasn't a "z" instead of an "h"?

And, I doubt that was God, anyway...

...'cause, "In the end", no one can be a "hero" and save her/himself.

We all gotta die, ms_ann_thrope...

...maybe not now from cancer, but someday from something.

If you hold not even a mustard seed of hope for possible life after certain death...

...then all you're stuck with is the stone cold fact that there's no hero and nothing to save you, and everything you've experienced before the moment you die means absolutely nothing to you anymore - just as if it never happened at all, just as if your entire life held absolutely no meaning at all.

But, it did happen, your entire life happened...

...instead of imagining false messages, perhaps you should ponder more the reality of why your life happened in the first place.

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

Who says it's me I'm supposed to save?

 

[Bookishleigh]

Sad quote - but too very true; I wish it weren't.

And I wish you all the best on Monday and the days following. I look forward to your return to Lit.

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

In a standard nephrectomy they saw off a rib. That just sounds like a bad idea.

 

[hashtag45]

Can't make out what eyer's saying (if it's a criticism or philosophical thinking).

But, with a few exceptions (ie the Reci thingies),
I've personally always enjoyed your messages and quotes. They showed wit and a good sense of humour.

I also look forward to your return.

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

Eyer was promised there would be more to it.

 

[Colonel Hogan]

I truly hope it goes well for you.

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

I almost don't care anymore.

The scale of the whole thing, the Mayo thing, is overwhelming. You can almost hear the whisper of the wind between the glass and steel boxes saying "please save me'"

Or as eyer might put it "please prolong me."

All I could think of all day was don't you have anything without Mayo on it?

 

[eyer]

Who says it's me I'm supposed to save?

You fantasize you can save someone else?

 

[Libsam]

There was a new girl in our Tai Chi class last week. Didn't get the chance to introduce myself and get her story, but she looks like she is recovering from cancer treatments.

I was thinking maybe you'd like it too, Ms Ann, it's relaxing, peaceful, calms the mind, and doesn't require a lot of physical exertion.

Anyways, good luck!

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

You fantasize you can save someone else?

I was lying in bed in the Days Inn trying to decide if I was getting eaten alive by bedbugs while wondering what I would do if the building was on fire. Soak the bed sheets in water and make a run for it? The fire escape was no where close.

I don't know if I could.
Save someone else.
I've never been asked to before.

 

[Everyday_Man]

Oh. The message?

In the end be your own hero because everyone else is busy trying to save themselves.

Not sure what it means. That's the trouble with divine instruction.
You don't know the consequence until the lightning bolt hits you.

my interpretation of that message is: Take it upon yourself to come to terms with your High Power because no one else can do it for you.

That way if you do go, you can go peacefully and without fear ... that's what I see in those words.

 

[eyer]

Eyer was promised there would be more to it.

Au contraire...

..."Eyer" has always been too weak of a believer to believe in promises.

Rather...

...I truly hope there is more to it.

For it seems to me that life holds too much meaning...

...for it to wind up meaning nothing at all.

 

[Noor]

Too much to get settled. Have to go to a wedding tomorrow and be charming. Wasn't anticipating anything happening so quickly.

Have to dig out my living will.

Wash underwear, you know, the important stuff. Mom would insist I have clean underwear.

I almost don't care anymore.

The scale of the whole thing, the Mayo thing, is overwhelming. You can almost hear the whisper of the wind between the glass and steel boxes saying "please save me'"

Or as eyer might put it "please prolong me."

All I could think of all day was don't you have anything without Mayo on it?

I tried to warn you about Mayo's. I could have said more I suppose, but I didn't want to scare you.

There used to be crucifixes everywhere, but I think they have toned that down.

I hope you are at St Mary's, it's a good hospital. I suspect quick is probably a good idea.

Best of Luck!

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

There was always a Tai Chi class on the Quad at school. Looked beautiful. Isn't it just killing people in slow motion?

That pleases me.

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

Au contraire...

..."Eyer" has always been too weak of a believer to believe in promises.

Rather...

...I truly hope there is more to it.

For it seems to me that life holds too much meaning...

...for it to wind up meaning nothing at all.

What if life is just a cosmic joke
Like spiders in your underwear or olives in your coke
My life can get as messy as a day old sticky bun
So I arm myself with punch lines and a big ol' water gun
They say it's not that simple but just maybe it should be
It's time to change the subject, would you join me in a cup of herbal tea?

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

my interpretation of that message is: Take it upon yourself to come to terms with your High Power because no one else can do it for you.

That way if you do go, you can go peacefully and without fear ... that's what I see in those words.

I've had a good run yet there are things I still need to do, given the chance.

 

[Noor]

Oh, I should mention something that might make you feel better.

Not everyone you see there is that sick, many people use the Mayo clinic as there primary care drs, esp. those from outlying areas.
Some of my relatives in Illinois used to go there for their yearly physicals and such.

The nice thing was you go and get everything done at once. It usually took a few days, but if you needed xrays, or anything they would be done then.

I am in the twin cities so I can see specialists here, but if you live south esp. in the rural areas you would go there to follow whatever thing you had like diabetes, allergies, RA, stuff like that.

 

[ms_ann_thrope]

I tried to warn you about Mayo's. I could have said more I suppose, but I didn't want to scare you.

There used to be crucifixes everywhere, but I think they have toned that down.

I hope you are at St Mary's, it's a good hospital. I suspect quick is probably a good idea.

Best of Luck!

Methodist Campus. Fitting. Born and baptized.

It's fun to see the reactions of people that day in and out see the worst in people and I give them Henny Youngman.

But then I cry in the dark.

 

[eyer]

I don't if I could.
Save someone else.
I've never been asked to before.

You could "save" everyone in the world, ms_ann_thrope...

...but we still all gotta die.

If you don't believe in anything after death, which renders your life meaningless the moment you die...

...what is it in this meaningless life you so fervently long to keep grasping unto to?