Thejoyes oflife

the moments I have touched and the people I am with. I thought about the sun on my face, the rain on my skin and the snow in my boots.

I thought about the belly laughs I have known and the tears I have shed, the ordinariness of breathing and getting out of bed.

We looked at each other, not knowing one another but knowing everything. And as the lady in the headscarf made to leave me, sure now of her direction, she leaned in and whispered “I just want to grow old”. I left that right place at the right time in the middle of an ordinary week. And I cried. For a lady I didn’t expect to meet; for me, who is grateful to be here; and for all facing, surviving and living with cancer.