Its a devastating thing. It grows silently, using your own resources against you. Masquerading as other maladies until it is finally discovered. When it is found, it is almost universally cut out. Some people are resilient to it's removal, even though the cancer takes some of them along with it. Others, are just not strong enough: the disease is wound too tightly into their bones; into their foundations. Still the best option is to get rid of it before it has a chance to spread further and infect more, even if the ultimate outcome is known at the time of its removal.

Thats is the better side of human nature, to do whatever we can to preserve life, even if we know that life cannot be sustained for any reasonable amount of time. And when our loved one, our friend, even our respected peer falls victim to such a disease the response is universal. We don't cheer, we mourn the loss of what was, and most certainly what could have been.

That is probably the most tragic thing. A good friend of mine once wrote "...dreams die the hardest death of all." those words, the tragedy and bitter reality they convey impressed beyond words when I first read them. They still do today. It's a hard lesson to learn, one that was re-taught to us all over the last week. Dreams are supposed to be resilient, instead they are like butterfly wings. Beautiful and magnificent, yet so fragile the simplest aggressive touch will render them useless.

I am cryptic, I know I am. It is by design. I don't think this is so cryptic that a number of people won't know what I am talking about. If you don't move on I'll post again shortly. If you do however, know this, you're welcome here. None of us envy what you have lost in the last week, and we all know it could have very well happened the other way around. So if you feel up to stopping in and saying hi, or whatever. Let me be the first to say, welcome and welcome back.

To the person, who suffered the broken butterfly wings... I have always looked up to you, respected you beyond some of the decisions I didn't agree with. Here's to your next metamorphosis, I hope you come through stronger and more beautiful then before.

Steve