Thread by @HoarseWisperer

So, I’ve been away all weekend scrupulously avoiding the news.

I’ve been in Saratoga with friends.

I’m the new guy in the crew. This is my 24th year.

It’s a weekend with friends but it’s more than that.

1/

Back in 2000, there were about ten of us who went each year.

But then we lost Tim on 9/11.

A few years later we lost Jim. Salt of the earth. Nicest guy in the world. Had a heart attack in front of his wife and three kids. 51 years old. Gone.

2/

In my own life, I lost my mother-in-law and step-father. Cancer and a bike accident.

The kinds of train wrecks you see for too long and don’t see at all.

Then we lost Other Tim. Lung cancer. Early 50’s.

3/

Of the remaining regulars, there are four of us.

One survived prostate cancer.

Another survivor esophageal cancer.

Another lives with a treateble blood cancer.

And there’s me.

4/

Here’s the thing about this trip...

It isn’t promised. It isn’t certain.

It’s a gift. Each year is a gift.

I don’t expect it right up to the moment I pull into town.

Nothing in life is certain. Remember that.

5/

Each year right around now, at the end of the weekend, I step away from the group and take it in.

No matter what hardship the past year brought, no matter what we lost or endured, we’re here...

...and that is a blessing I never overlook.

6/6