An Open Letter

An open letter to dear friends.  Names have been changed to protect the innocent which happens to be me:

Dear friend I am so sorry you feel crotchety today!  Hopefully it will get better. 

Xavier and Zetta, I am not refusing to communicate in the English language, nor by using modern technology.  I am saying that at this moment in time I am not in a position to do so.  I truly do appreciate you both giving me some viable options to look into and to utilize when the time comes.  I know this is out of love that you do so and I am grateful that I have friends that think that much of me that they go out of their way to make sure I know what is out there.  You would be surprised at how many of our friends from school give me the long face and a one line response to the fact that I am dying.

And, yes I am dying.  There is no use in not putting that point to it.  It might be in a year.  It might be in 20 years.  The fact remains that I am slowly, measurably, and inescapably dying.  I have ALS, but ALS does not have me!  I will continue to do until I can do no more.  Will there be things that I cannot do?  Yes, of course there will be and there are.  Will I adjust to a constantly changing situation?  Yes I will, and by the Gods, I will have fun doing it.  You both know my somewhat insane sense of humor.  What you don't know is that in times of illness it gets even worse.

This is not to say that I am in anyway giving up or giving in to this disease. Nor am not being defeatist about this.  Rather, I am (at least I think I am) being realistic.

I hope you understand where I am coming from and that if I have hurt either of you that it is truly unintentional because I would never do that to you, my old friends. 

Now Xavier and Zetta, get a cup of coffee and everything will be okay in a decade or two.  Maybe as soon as a lustrum. (LOL I love that word!)

With love for both,

B

American by birth,

Southern by the grace of God.