The cards we are dealt

...I haven't written a lot the last few months about my father-in-law, who some might remember took ill back around Christmas. Since then, he's been diagnosed with brain cancer and has been undergoing a combination of chemo and radiation therapy. Peter Senior has dealt with this with a remarkable combination of courage and stamina I think. He and my mother-in-law (and my wife and her sister as well) have been dealt a very hard blow these past months and it is a big, hulking thing to have to think about. The support of family and friends has been invaluable for everyone.

It occupies my thoughts often enough that I need to at least mention it now and again. I don't want to turn this into "the cancer blog," nor is it truthfully my right to do so. But I figured it might be time for a brief update. At this point, nothing is certain but he is doing fairly well all things considered. There are many things that change when you have cancer in the family -- it's a strange new dark thing for me and my wife to have to deal with. I have been incredibly fortunate up until now to have minor family bouts -- a spell of prostate cancer, that sort of thing -- that, cross fingers, have been treatable. Treatment for brain tumours is changing all the time and so far Peter Sr has responded very well to treatment, far better than the horror stories you sometimes associate with it. We don't know what the coming year holds -- but then again, does anyone?

But it certainly does put a spin on our decision to move over to New Zealand, with little Peter, 2 1/2 years ago now -- and makes us very glad we're here, where each new birthday celebrated and visit has taken on a slightly more important tone to us. I take things for granted every single day, but am trying to do so just a little less.