Target

I was shopping at Target the other day, just minding my own business and I heard someone yell out my name.  It turned out to be a couple I used to play recreational field hockey with back in the day.  I probably haven't seen them in 7 or 8 years.

We stood in the frozen food aisle catching up.  For a brief second I wondered if they had heard about Jeff, but I let the thought pass as we talked about all the people we used to play hockey with.  They mentioned that one of their daughters I had coached when she was in high school was married and pregnant and they asked if I had ever finally gotten married. Oh those fantastic moments when I drop the "Jeff bomb" on people.

Me:  "Yeah...I did get married...but about a year and a half after we got married he got cancer and died 2 years and 9 months ago."

Them:  "What?!? Not Jeff.  He was so funny!"

Me:  "Yeah...I know, right?"

Then the usual questions of what kind of cancer, did he smoke, was he symptomatic, how did you discover it, and my usual answers that it was lung cancer, no he didn't smoke, no he wasn't really symptomatic, we found out because he had a stiff neck and a lump in his throat, which turned out to be the cancer that had spread to his spine and his lymph nodes.

Yup...just another Thursday night at Target, catching up with people I haven't seen in years, and dropping a bomb on them.

I hate cancer for making me a widow.