Can I Get a New Humour ?

Loosely applied, especially in this post, the ancient Greek

Humoral theory, holds that good health relies on a balance

of four fundamental fluids: blood, choler (yellow bile), phlegm,

and black bile. I've been out of balance for the last two

months and not been in a communicative mood and not posting.

Shame on me. But it has caused me to reflect on the short and

unpredictable shelf-life afforded mortality, and the chronic

afflictions that diminish our spark.

My older brother, David, was a civic-minded, nonsmoking

teetotaler who walked five miles a day with friends from his

childhood. He had a racehorse metabolism and frequently

enjoyed a Hobbit's habit of second breakfast, lunch or

dinner. He married well and raised two great children. I

thought he would outlive me. Stomach cancer, out of

the blue.

For twenty-five years, five a days a week, I met with

another supervisor to confer and discuss the complex

administrative tasks facing our respective shifts. That

kind of vital information exchange will either bond you

or break you, as a team. He was one of the few middle-

class men I have ever known to actually realize his life-long

dream. He wanted to be a gentleman farmer, raise chickens

and be left alone, on acres of pasture and piney woods.

Frugal to a fault, disciplined, he and his wife on the

eve of his retirement had amassed enough savings to

purchase 80 acres of pasture, woods, ponds, barns,

and homes. While I doubted the wisdom of such a

project when you are in your mid-sixties, he was

undeniably the happiest man in my world. I am unsure

now, on the exact time line, but within a year he was

diagnosed with Lymphoma and and a bit later, Leukemia.

If life was fair, I'd be buying my eggs from him. Everything

you have is on loan.

Three years ago I began experiencing epic bouts of

horizontal double vision. I got a million dollar work-

up. Myasthenia Gravis. Huh? Are you kidding me?

Well, we adapt. A month after Logan died, I had

symptoms consistent with a bladder infection. Six months

later I am still miserable with Chronic Prostratitis. Huh?

Are you kidding me?

Can I get a some new Humour?

Today I post not to complain, just explain. Which

means I am feeling better. More to come.