Through These Eyes: The courageous struggle to find meaning in a life stressed with cancer — John Shaqi
Through These Eyes: The courageous struggle to find meaning in a life stressed with cancerIsaacson, Lauren Ann
Science
Through These Eyes: The courageous struggle to find meaning in a life stressed with cancer
Isaacson, Lauren Ann
Cancer -- Patients -- Biography; Isaacson, Lauren Ann, 1961-1986
My brothers were both considered "good Kids" by societal standards,
being law-abiding, and generally speaking, parent-abiding as well.
However, blood relationships do not guarantee a likeness of character
or form, and so it was with Norm and Todd. They looked nothing alike,
facially or otherwise. Norm was muscular, with unstoppable health,
while Todd was taller, thin, and prone to allergies. Apart from such
obvious dissimilarities their personalities and interests also differed
greatly. Such differences rarely evoked conflict, though, because they
were on wholly separate planes. Norm and Todd were not incompatible in
an obnoxious sense; they merely followed their own dreams. A
coincidence of their respected circles of interest occurred mainly
through their great love--and respect--for nature; thanks to Dad. They
also shared a consuming interest in the chug and maintenance of the
woodland trails and bridges on which they would ride. Basically,
though, Norm and Todd were as different as apples and oranges. My
memories of and love for each of my brothers varied greatly from the
other, and changed with the passage of time, for I, as well as they,
underwent transitional phases. Thus, as characters were modified and
outlooks were altered, relationships, also, transformed through the
years.
My fondest memories of Todd, who bested Norm by roughly three years,
were those of our early interactions. Todd had a wonderful ability to
entertain children. He seemed to sense the exact type of gesture and
manner of conversation which enthralled a young audience, and as a
result, was rarely able to rest once a child noticed this value. He
possessed an unbelievable attention span and tolerance for a child's
endless and often irrational demands.
I found Todd to be an inexhaustible source of amusement, as he was
quite adept at conjuring up names and personalities for my motley array
of stuffed animals. He would then provide an endless flow of
nonsensical banter for the animal of my choosing, which delighted and
held captive my attention for countless hours on end.
I had two favorites, the first of which was an alligator; Todd would
shake the green amphibious creature, emit a gravel-throated roar, and
proceed to chase me about the house until I could no longer escape and
irreversibly served as the alligator's dinner.
The second was a beloved bear whose eyes were so asymmetrically adhered
to its face that it appeared to be immersed in a drunken stupor. Todd
christened the bear "Coors Bear" in reference to the beer of the same
name, and projected its character as that of a bum in desperate need of
another drink. He would make the bear twitch and shake with obvious
delirium moaning simultaneously, "Whe'm I?....Whe'm I?" This would
continue unless the bear was administered an ample swig of Coors beer
from a small bottle; the bear was then content to laze back into a
dream-like sleep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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