My brother phoned me this morning and asked, “So how’s it feel to have me inside of you?” And with that, we were back to our idiot brotherly ways. No more of this, “thanks for saving my life” or “you know I’d do anything for ya man.” It felt good. Although he ended the call with, “I love you,” and I replied “thanks blood, love ya too.”
It adds a funny, weird dynamic to a relationship when one of the participants gives such a tremendous gift. My Mom buying him and his wife a new bed doesn’t come close to evening the score. No, I’m not looking around for an opportunity to return the favor but maybe our next round of golf is on me, (NOTE: I said maybe, Scott).
I’ve never loved the thought of being in someone’s debt and have always paid off my bills on time. This is one of those things that can never be paid off unless I somehow arrange to have him trapped on top of a burning building and I learn how to fly a helicopter right quick. Knowing Scott and his firefighting skills he’d refuse the flight, find an emergency exit and save a bunch of orphans on the way down.
So by him making a smart-ass remark this morning, he helped alleviate some of my silly repay-the-debt thinking. I can go back to luxuriating in my second Wendy’s cheeseburger transfusion since Stem Cell Friday, (which is one infusion more than my Buddy’s Pizza intake). If this is what it’s like to have my brother’s marrow, I’m lovin’ it. Wait, that’s McDonald’s theme … ohhhhh, Mocha Frappes …
Seriously though, this weekend has been wonderful. I feel like a new man, (insert joke here), and even though I know the effects of my final round of chemo ever haven’t fully hit me, I can still see an ever growing light at the end of this Tunnel of Love freak show I’ve been riding through.
“Life,” as a few of my cool shirts here say, “is good.” Even Detroit looks beautiful outside my window as the pockets of trees all around us start showing off. And this is where I know I’m in some sort of weird reverie, even the people a few streets over along the Cass Corridor look happy to be outside enjoying the sunshine.
Man, who knew a couple cheeseburgers and some bone marrow would be so good for the soul?