Slight Variations and the Twilight Zone

We grew up on the Twilight Zone.  I remember an episode where a women's house was invaded and she was trying to get rid of the tiny invaders.  They had little laser type things. They pestered her and it was sort of scary.  As she pounded at them and smashed them with a broom the camera scanned down and there, on their tiny little space ship was an American flag...

One of my first lesson's in perception..

We have been in the Twilight Zone for a long time.  Sometimes it seems normal and might look normal but that little pesky laser thing keeps hanging around.  You know it is there but just not sure where.

I am looking out my window and am looking at my amazing two trees.  Each is a Katsura, a Japanese tree, round leaves, early leaves on, early leave off.  Each fall the trees turn and are a little bit different.  One if more orange and red, the other is more yellow.  One is taller and more narrow.  Their bark is a bit different  They are not identical upon some serious examinations.   

As a species, we look for differences. We spend a whole bunch of energy trying to be "like" everyone, yet somehow different.  We want the similarities to be positive unless there is a problem, real or perceived, and then we want to differentiate.

  It sort of goes like this:

My child has the good kind of ALL (like there could ever be any good kind of Childhood Cancer.) 

They found three 10/10 bone marrow matches.   The cells are coming from Australia.

There are no cells we are going to have to use cord blood. 

We are in a trial. 

There isn't a trial but we are trying to get on one.

We have never had to miss a day of chemo because the counts are good.

We have missed whole doses of chemo because the counts were so good.

This is a relapse post Lymphoma Treatment.

This is a relapse three months off treatment. Six months, two years, 57 months...

This is a new secondary cancer.

All are variations on a theme but they are still the same terrible childhood cancer.  It just sucks.  No other way to put it.  It just is a bad bad thing.  

The good part is that we come together, we recognize the pain, we gather our resources, we help each other, we learn about how wonderful and generous the world can be. We find the strength and help of God, in all his/her iterations is ever present. 

I guess I choose to make my Twilight Zone look a bit less dreary....