21 year remission anniversary

My chemo cycles were three weeks long. After a treatment I was so weak that I left the hospital in a wheelchair. The next day, a walk up and down our the short block could take a half an hour. One foot in front of the other... steady steady, come home soon to rest. 

But then I'd get stronger, day by day, until the next treatment. 

The day before the next treatment I would go for long hikes... one foot in front of the other for as many miles as I could.

It's 21 years today since I went into remission. My dad and I hiked a section of The Long Path a year and a half ago. Today I pick up from where we left off and see how far I go. One foot in front of the other. 

Poem: Sukkot 5785

Sukkot 5785

On Sukkot we embrace 

and are embraced

by vulnerability.

We leave our warm beds 

and go outside

to live in a house 

with a leaking roof.

It has no locks.

Sometimes not even doors.

As I prepare

to leave my warm bed

and to step into the air

I think of those

who had done so already.

The holidays were ending.

Their routines were about to begin anew

but then they never came home

and we don't know where they are

or whether or not 

they remember their beds.