Today is the one-year anniversary of my diagnosis. It feels like a lifetime of experience in that one short year. Some years just come and go, unnoticed. Not this one. So what have I learnt? Cancer gets just anybody, with little rhyme or reason: smoker or non-smoker, organic vegetable eater or MickyD muncher, drinker, tea-totaller, old, young, spiritualist, hedonist and nonce- all the same. I also realize that there are many things in life (TV, media, peers, ourselves) that conspire to make us forget that this is our ONE LIFE – from cradle to tomb. We are led to believe that we can just quietly plod through our lives, property ladder, career path etc and not make a fuss, don’t rock the boat and just ignore the fact that THIS IS IT. No dress rehearsal, not even a sound check. What you are doing right now is what your life is. And I must shave away with Occam’s Razor any concepts of a reward system at the end of it all.
So here I am, one year on with D’s sword still dangling precariously above me, and it begs incessantly the question: “What are you going to do with your life?” It’s a tough one but I always know the answer: Live MY life with gratitude, creativity, love, irreverence, humour and wonder.
What are YOU gonna do? Best, milton
P.S. If you wanna nice surprise- go to your local magazine dealer and locate a copy of Guitar Techniques (Winter 2005)– Now who’s that new columnist on the CD cover?
