TheBanyanTree: Cashing In

[Pam Lawley]

I swear I started to hit the 'reply' button on gmail like it was the 'like'
button on Facebook!!!!

So very, very true!

On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 7:25 PM, Tom Smith <deserthiker2000 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Over the last 25 years I shared experiences and opinions in
> quality conversations with a good neighbor, usually standing in
> the fenceless space between our garages.
>
> I visited him in the hospital the morning of his last day
> alive.  He was wearing a clear flexible plastic oxygen mask
> that made him hard to understand.  He took it off because it
> annoyed him, but soon he started gasping for air, so I helped
> him put the mask back on and told him he needed it, and I
> pointed to the winking lights and numbers on the monitor by his
> bed that all got better when wearing the mask.
>
> His eyes twinkled as if a good idea or thought just crossed his
> mind and then he started pointing his finger with a sensor on
> it toward the monitor and moving his hand in time with the
> monitor's beeps and lights, like he was Lawrence Welk directing
> musicians.  It was the only time in all the years I've known
> him that I saw him joyfully play.
>
> I've speculated since on comparing life with a game -playing
> the hand dealt.  Luck and skill and probably desire are all
> needed to stay in the game.  The tricky part is defining what
> "winning" is.  For me, every happy moment scores a point.
>
>