Though Much is Taken, Much Abides

First, the trival (and good) news:

I had a great run yesterday. It’s amazing how much better I feel and the wonders that Dr. Sellers has worked. That vague feeling of being “locked up” and unable to get my legs to go is gone. The pain in my hip is, essentially, gone. My back is feeling very fatigued now and generally achey, but I trust him that we’ll take care of this soon. I’ll head out to Bastrop State Park tomorrow for an ease back into a long run, committing only to the 8-mile loop and taking it from there.

Now, the not-so-trivial stuff:

I just got word that I woman I recently met and bonded with who was becoming a friend has gotten some very bad health news…the life-threatening kind. The “diagnosis on Monday, surgery the next Monday” kind.

This news, combined with what is happening to my good friend Dano, makes me feel especially shaken. While my new friend may not be dying, my old friend is. The question that keeps coming up is “why?” And I don’t think that’s ever a question that can be answered, which means that I believe we, as humans, have to accept certain things without ever understanding or seeing a reason.

It doesn’t make it any easier.

I keep trying to hold on to knowing that the life lived is a legacy, and that’s why I chose the quote from “Ulysses”–I may never understand why Dano has had to go through this, but I know that the world is a better place for his passing through it.

I’m having a hard time with the crap of Christmas, the gift-giving end. People are the things that make life worth living, not things, and all I want to do is spend time with the people I love, doing the things I love.