Kismet

Personal Kismet meets Fly Fishing

Kismet: Fate or Destiny in Turkish and Urdu, a predetermined course of events,

from Persian qesmat, from Arabic qisma, lot, from qasama, to divide, allot.

Seems to me some of the strangest things happen when we least expect it. Sometimes it is hard to digest the happening until much later chapters in the story; as happened in this case.

Early last fall Tom and went as scheduled to get our eyes tested in Peterborough.

Tom's glasses were hanging literally by a wire put in place by yours truly the last time the lens popped out. The time had definitely come for him to to get a new pair.

During my examination - out of the blue my optometrist asked: " Are your toes swollen on their ends like you fingers? with curved nails? " To which I answered " yes " - this phenomena called clubbing had started in my toes about a year ago and my fingers joined in the change just the past spring. The resulting problems from the swelling and pain were definitely interfering with my every day life and my work in my studio. No one I had asked in the medical field seemed to have any idea why this was taking place.

He stopped what he was doing and looked directly at me and said; "You are seriously ill, you need to get in to see an internist right away - in fact I will make you an appointment with one I know and my office will call you with the date. It may take awhile as he is very bust but we will try to get you in as quickly as possible. "

He reiterated this to Tom also.

I waited a month for an appointment and decided to see if our local Nurse Practitioner could get me in to se an alternative internist sooner.. she did.

To cut a long story short a few weeks later it was discovered I had lung cancer - a largish tumor in the lower lobe of my left lung.

After the holiday season and a myriad of tests and much waiting; here now mid - May finds me 3 weeks into recovery after having my whole left lung removed. This has been an overwhelming journey which is still not quite finished but we are well on our way to dealing positively with the problem.

HOW I now wonder does one thank their eye doctor for taken time to observe - to ask - to act on an issue which in effect saved my life? The tumor was growing very quickly noticeable even during the time needed to do thorough testing. The cancer was going totally not noticed as there were few symptoms other than the clubbing.

I wanted to say/do something and spoke with the friends who had originally referred us to this eye doctor to find answers. As far fetched as this sounds - My eye doctor is also a doctor and had had a well known medical career before he sorta - down sized might be a descriptive way to state that he decided set day hours as a optometrist fit his life better. No idea why this took place - but I am sure thankful it did.

Just sending a card felt empty - though I will definitely make one in which to put heartfelt thanks from both Tom and myself. After talking with my friends who knew this man for longer time periods than we - I discovered that he was and still may be a fly fisherman - interestingly the only other person I have ever met who fly fished is my partner Tom. A rare gentle breed of extremely patient men.

From this knowledge base I worked with a simple silhouette design and passed it on to our good friends at Soundings http://www.soapstonecarvings.com/

and they sandblasted the design into a piece of "panda stone" for me. I think it turned out fabulous - I certainly hope he does also. It is not too large and can be used as a paper weight or sit in a corner quietly on a shelf.

I hope when looks at it a warm memory feel will pass through from me; as without his active participation I may not have been here much longer.

I have started my words for the card which will utilize the same casting design.

" Some people have a thoughtful way of living,

a happiness they bring to every day

in the helpful things they do for other people.

The caring words they say. "

That's as far as I've got so far; but as you see it is falling in place with magick - just as it was meant to evolve.

Bright Blessings

Sharon