“I Bought a Calendar for Next Year!”

 

Calendars. I never thought that a calendar would have such an impact on one person but it did. John is a client of mine that has suffered both physically and emotionally.  When we met in the fall of this year the  thought of his death was his reality.  He didn’t think that he would make it to his birthday in January. We discussed several options but none of them seemed to be working. Soccer was his saving grace. When he would see me you could see the light in his eyes as he described the game he watched on the weekend.

I saw him weekly. Sometimes that’s all we did was talk about soccer.

I don’t know what changed but slowly the light in his eyes returned. And then it happened. Just before Christmas he came in and said, “I bought a calendar for next year!” I didn’t hear him at first. Don’t most of us buy calendars at the beginning of the year? Then it hit me. John was planning for next year! John wanted to live after all. There would be more talks about soccer and more talks about history but more importantly there would be a next year.
Nancy Hartsfield