We started jauntily on our way, just the three of us, friends for years who had weathered many storms together. What could have been a depressing expedition was not. You see, we were going to a cancer clinic. Our friend Hallie had been told that she had a very large growth in her breast. Surgery had removed it, and today she was to set up treatments for the strongest chemo that her body could manage.
Renee and I were going with her for moral support. Hallie, however would not be daunted by the seriousness of it all.
No, everything was funny to her as we made our way there. Renee was known for her laughter, so she laughed along with her and I too joined in,
We entered the clinic, and Hallie asked if we could go in with her to the examining room. The jokes and laughter continued, I saw the attendant glancing curiously at us from time to time. I’m sure she was thinking, Are these people for real?
Hallie’s emerging philosophy seemed to convey this: The future cannot spoil the pleasure of today with my friends. We will seize the moments and enjoy the time God has given.
In the months that followed, Hallie got through the severe treatments, refusing to have a negative attitude. I’m sure she had her days, but she chose to latch onto faith, embracing each day with constructive living.
As the months progressed, she lost all her hair, but donned a stylish salt and pepper wig to maintain a perspective of who she was. One day, she suggested I attended a church conference with her in a city about sixty miles away. On the way home, we spotted a youth of about eighteen sitting along the road in an old pickup truck, selling bunches of roses. On investigation, we found he had only a few left and they had been marked down considerably.
“Oh Hallie, that’s a reasonable price, I said, and they are so beautiful, Let’s stop and help him out.”
“Yes, let’s do, I would love some.” she replied enthusiastically. So we stopped and strode over to his pickup truck.
I selected a favorite pink, and she chose a sunny yellow. Just as Hallie opened her purse to play for her purchase, a gust of wind caught her wig and it went rolling down the side of the highway. Soon she was scampering after it, her baldness from the cancer treatment exposed,
I lookwd at the young man and shrugged. He didn’t say a word, and I can’t describe the look on his face. Returning finally after retrieving her rolling hair peice, Hallie plopped it on her head and held it down as she paid for her roses. We then marched to our car spritely to keep our dignity. Only later, when we were out of sight, were we able to convulse in laughter.
That was many years ago, and Hallie has been cancer free since, There could be many factors why the cancer did not return, but one of the main ones surely was Hallie’s ability to cast her care on the Higher Power, leaving it there to make the most of the days given her.

A cheerful heart is good like medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22
Don’t walk behind me: I may not lead
Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow
Just walk beside me and be my friend.
–Albert Camus