Record floods? No problem
Media reports are touting the value of writing about a diagnosis of cancer. Even on days when I feel like taking an extra few minutes to sleep late or sneaking a nap, if I'm on deadline I manage to get to my computer to share my latest thoughts.
Like most computer junkies, I've gone through several different operating systems and agree with those who are frustrated with the newest one, Microsoft's Vista.
To its credit, my computer didn't drown in our recent record rains and the floods that followed. I momentarily wondered if there was computer-chemo, just in case.
Keeping in touch with friends and family still meant just tapping a few keys. It didn't matter that roads were impassable; the Internet highway worked just fine. Friends e-mailed and called to invite me to dinner.
Flooded roads didn't deter them. They managed to navigate from the city to the suburbs, picked me up after temporarily dropping off their tiny white Bichon Frise at my place and wound their way through the puddles to treat me to a badly needed night out.
Unfortunately, those patrons who tried the Haussmann Brasserie the night before cleaned out much of their stock of basic main courses and there were no deliveries on this rainy Sunday. I did enjoy a richly flavored onion soup and a perfectly prepared steak, and then emerged into a misty evening so my friends could bring me back here.
Not bothered by my cancer, their dog, bid me farewell with a few kisses. They returned home and I crashed into bed, where I slept like a log before waking to follow flood reports. Then, I returned to my computer. Momentarily, I wondered what would have happened had all that moisture arrived in the form of snow. At least this didn't demand shovels.
If we were to engage in comparisons - cancer vs. record-setting rains - I guess it would all depend on perspective.
From the safety of the inside, looking out, the rains have always fascinated me. Cancer is not fascinating in the same way, but as long as the power is on, I can follow it, too.
• Ruth Gesmer Silverman of Buffalo Grove learned in March 2007 that her breast cancer, originally diagnosed in 2002, had spread to her bones. Her column about living with the disease appears every other week in Health & Fitness.