page 19 of 30												index


As a child

		my father seemed invincible and all-powerful. 
		
		His body was a source of fear, 
		often terror.
		
		
		Years later, 
		as a grown man, 
		he still intimidated me physically.  
		
		I could never see his body as the fragile container 
		that it is for all of us. 
		
		
		It never occurred to me
		 
		that he might get sick.
		 
		
		But he did. 
		
		
		And over a period of six months 
		I watched my father's body deteriorate, 
		and eventually 
		
		I watched him die. 
		
		
		This was the last great lesson
 
		the father taught the son. 
		
		
		And like those that had come before it, 
		this lesson was administered 
		unconsciously and unknowingly.


The cancer . . .