Today is my birthday. I turn 54, an age I thought nothing much about just a few short years ago in my meanderings through life but which, due to cancer, has been brought into clear focus with the passing of each year.
I used to take birthdays for granted, want the minimum of celebration and treated each like just another ordinary day - but as we all know brothers and sisters, when you hop on the cancer merry go round, there is no such thing as another ordinary day.
Today marks not just my 54th year on planet earth but also my seventh since diagnosis, sixth since my RALP, fourth since SRT and second since HRT. Initially, I thought (and was told) I would get a good outcome but after a while, each treatment failed. So, during these six long years, I have traveled more than Alan Whicker, loved more that Lothario and drunk more than Oliver Reed - well not quite, but you get my gist.
To put it more accurately, I have tried to live each day as I want to, without the constraints or pressures and politics of the workplace and although not like each day were my last, were at least appreciated for the true gifts they are.
To me, every day has been my birthday, whether it be travelling on a short break to some new European city, laying down on the couch to watch cricket, through to going on a mundane shopping trip. I have enjoyed them all - and if the clock were turned back six years, I wouldn't want to have lived them any differently. Cancer may have pre-ordained my future but I have trod the path.
Tonight, I will be blessed by having four special gifts, my wife and my two beautiful daughters around the table. Despite the serious fatigue I am now suffering being on a double whammy of hormones (which do appear to be working by the way), I shall drink wine, crack a few rude jokes and be just as gobby as I always am. Today, albeit my birthday, will be no more special than any other.
The message I am trying to get across whatever stage of the conveyor belt of discovery you may be on is that life truly is a birthday gift to be enjoyed each day and you don't need to do anything special to enjoy it - just being part of life is gift enough.
So, happy birthday to you and you and you, whether yours is December, August, May or September. I will raise a glass to you all and wish your tomorrow to be as special as I try to make mine today! Cheers!!
Edited by member 20 May 2016 at 17:03
| Reason: Not specified