sometimes throughout our lives, a virtual monkey wrench comes out of nowhere only to land smack dab in the middle of our plans or daily routines! for example… i am a bike rider. since i’ve been living here in newark, practically every morning for over two years i’m in branch brook park doing (pause!) around 17 miles before 7am! so around a week ago as i was returning from a ride that day to queens, about a mile from home i hit a unseen pothole (the sun had set 30 minutes earlier!)and wham… a homer! two flats at the same time! damn, of all the luck! i had only thought the front tire was flat but as i starting walking it felt like i was pushing my bike thru mud and i looked down and saw the flat back tire too! wtf! in all my years riding(over 60!)never had i gotten 2 flats at the same time! so i pushed my bike the mile and a half home! the next day while changing the flats came a rather harsh surprise… my back rim was bent! damn again! so now my rim is in the shop and i haven’t rhode in over a week now! and during this waiting time i have keeping busy shooting jump shots in the park! then i remembered how i became an expert on the handling of monkey wrenches. and this is a rather large one… one of the largest of my life… ever! cancer in 2015! and if you paid attention you’d notice that i emphasized “one!” that’s right because in may of 2020 i was diagnosed with my second major monkey wrench, mantle cell lymphoma! oh well… sometimes life screams at you and so i learned to listen! and through my listening i have morphed my diagnosis of cancer into something that has inadvertently changed the way i perceive my life! cancer has opened up something that has been there all my life and i didn’t know about… poetry! if it wasn’t for a diagnosis such as mine i don’t believe that i would have known of the poems that live inside me! i am not happy about my diagnosis’ but i am grateful to God for giving me the strength to traverse the valley that i’ve been since 2015! with all this said, no matter whatever the circumstances surrounding your health, remember that God is the Head Doctor! believe this!
peace and blessings!
