Mom Does Blog

A Special Guest Author today. Someone Near and Dear to my Heart: Mom.



I went sky divin'
I went Rocky Mountain climbin'
I went 2 point 7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And I loved deeper,
And I spoke sweeter
And I watched an Eagle as it was flying;
And he said someday I hope you get the chance,
To Live Like You Were Dyin’

Chorus , Live like You Were Dyin’ -- Tim McGraw

One of the interesting threads running through cancer blogs is “what would you do if you only had [insert number] months to live?” Since Tom was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I’ve noticed how often brain tumors occur in novels, TV dramas, soap operas, and movies--way out of proportion to the relatively rare occurrence in real life. I call it “brain tumor as literary device.” Those of us who haven’t faced x-rays and scans predicting our demise usually say that the first thing we’d do is quit out job.

Aaron [Pollack (of "Where's My p53" fame)] , however, chose to continue working as long as he can because he believes so strongly in what he’s doing. I admire that. Tom wanted to take some trips. He has had some wonderful experiences in the last few months: the baseball tour with his Dad and Joe; a Notre Dame game with Bruce and Joe; Palm Springs with all the Melleckers, and of course, Ireland. But these days, the things that seem so sweet to our family are the ordinary moments: the boys’ baseball games, sitting together on the patio in the evening, Jack climbing on Tom’s lap, eating pizza, having a beer, talking about Steph’s wedding. The only good thing that I can see about terminal cancer is that it reminds you to do some things you‘ve always wanted to do, and to “talk sweeter’ and “love deeper". And, guess what? We all have the chance to live like we were dying.