Are You Ready?

To Whom This May Concern,

Listen, I know this is hard

Hi, how’s the dog?...Kidding. I don’t even think you have a dog.

Dear Mr.

Hey,

How are you?

It’s weird to be writing an actual letter to you, but my therapist said I should give it a try. We keep missing each other's calls anyway. I can picture the pouty face you’re making, but it’s the truth! I understand that you can’t be there for everyone all the time. Still, I hope you read this.

Are you still into politics? You’ve always been rather good at charming people. And are you and your partner still together? I hope so. They really know how to party. Remember when you two were on the news last year and

I know. Could you hear my sigh from across the country?

I’m using formalities to avoid the real purpose of this letter.

We haven’t talked about it yet, not really. No one knows how. Doctors say that by 2050 she’ll be stage 4. My university professors lecture me about the facts, but with their opinions they can’t exactly tell me how to help. My friends joke and wave away the idea of the cancer ever existing, like they can just toss their beer cans into a pile and claim they’ve done their duty for the cause. Either way they end up drunk. Either way all of us go about living our lives while she sits suffering.

There are people out there fighting. They’re trying their best to raise awareness about this. They’re trying their best to make a change, spending hours and precious time to help people understand the severity of the situation, but not everyone is ready to listen. Not everyone is ready to comprehend that this disease doesn’t just affect the patient.

I didn’t think someone could intentionally be ignorant, but the facts are being covered up by fake news and people are more than happy to fall for it. When did convenience and comfort begin to trump truth and integrity? They should teach the skill of identifying proper sources in highschools, along with the importance of research when obtaining new information. We should be promoting the importance of educating one’s self, don’t you think? I wish I had learned about this stuff when I was younger, even if my cool kid attitude prevented me from admitting this lesson’s worth.

Have you seen this article? I’ll attach it on the back. The New York Times headlined their paper with

Sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself. There’s just too much to think about. It’s rather overwhelming to be honest. Sometimes I just want to forget all of this is happening.

Okay. I can do this. We can do this.

I should just go ahead and say it, right? That’s the mature thing to do, isn’t it? I hardly know anymore. I do know, however, that you don’t want to face it either. Still, now’s the time. We need to recognize this before it’s too late, before we have no choice but to say goodbye. I know this is uncomfortable. I know that this feels like it isn’t your problem. I know that this seems like a futile battle. Still, we should at least try.

Are you ready? Me neither.

Mother’s sick.

Just writing that feels wrong, like her sickness can’t possibly exist. Like this isn’t real. But it’s real. I can see it in her posture, the way she’s slowly sinking into herself. I can see it in the way she sweats even though she is shivering with cold. I can see it in the way she tries to smile, tries to shine with positivity, as if she can dry up the tears swelling like a river inside her. The tears dry up but the rims of her eyes burn as a result.

She confessed to me the other day that her limbs felt heavy and as if they were burning up as well. The swelling has become too much. I didn’t know what else to do besides give her pain killers. They only last a few hours. Then what? Drug her up some more? What happens to her then? She’ll stop being herself. Drugs are temporary. What can I possibly do for her in the long term?

I try to keep strong for her, try to do the right thing, but I can’t do this alone, not anymore. I need your help. She needs your help.

You should come visit her with me. I know you’re busy, but she’d love to see you. We could take her out for a trip to the forest, somewhere with fresh air so she can breathe easily even if just for a moment.

She’s always talked about planting her very own redwood, maybe we could do that too in her backyard. My neighbor was telling me the other day that you can pick up a sapling up near San Jose at the Redwood National Park. Pretty cool, huh? She was also telling me about this new browser system she started using. Ecosha Ecosia, she called it. It’s like Google but every time you search for something a fresh tree is planted somewhere around the world. They send you a video to prove it. I think Mother would like that as well. I know you’re not super into change, but the small things make a difference to her.

I don’t want to ask but Could you do me a favor? Please? For her. For our family. We have to stick together now more than ever. Without each other there’s no beating this.

Can you visit her at least twice a week? I need to work and go to lectures. I can’t always be there like I’d like to. It’s all simple stuff, but at the end of the day I can tell she’s better for it.

Here’s my usual checklist:

1. Help her pick up the house when it’s cluttered (In her closet she likes it when you sort things by material)

2. Water and tidy her herb garden (it’s rather large but she doesn’t mind if you use some of it for yourself if you keep it healthy)

3. Sometimes a reporter or junior journalist stops by the house due to the rarity of her condition, if they do, please insist on an authenticity check and do not provide any information unless they are considerate, reliable, and provide you with a copy of the article (sometimes they can a bit much and Mother just wants them turned away)

4. She has doctors appointments throughout the week, but she doesn’t like driving there (the smog causes her to cough and feel nauseous) so please either walk or bike, the office isn’t very far

5. When you go grocery shopping be careful about what you buy, sometimes organic products appear wholesome and healthy, but they could be affecting the way she feels. Also certain chemicals such as Palm Oil and Bisphenol-A (BPA) causes an allergic reaction so please avoid those (don’t forget the reusable bags in the kitchen closet!)

6. Did I mention she practically has a zoo in her backyard? It’s a bit much I admit, but who can say no to those innocent faces? They’re rather self-sufficient so if you leave them be they’ll go about their routines, but sometimes they require a bit of help. For example, Mother’s neighbor is quite intent on using them as targets for his BB-gun. We’ve called the cops but they say there’s nothing they can do unless he’s actually hurt one of them, so we’ve been knocking on his door until he acknowledges us and listens to what we have to say about it. It doesn’t always work. Sometimes the neighbor just slams the door in our face and ignores us but Mother loves her animals and I admire her strength. We’re quite a stubborn family as you well know.

I probably missed something in all of this mess. There’s just so much to keep in mind. Let me know if you need any help though. If you agree to help that is.

Will you?

She needs us. After all she has done for us the least we can do is help her in her time of need. I know this is a lot to process, it’s taken me awhile to process it myself, but with a little assistance from each of us we can still help her live a full and happy life until the end.

I’ll add a few pictures of her, the good and the bad. To be honest, they’re quite hard to look at, but I think it’s important that we do. She deserves to be treated like the organic being she is, not a terminally ill vessel. She’s not dead yet.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Even that is a step forward.

Love,

Forever yours,

See ya

Yours truly,

******** *********

____________________________________________________

This is the article I was talking about. If you have time maybe take a look?

Climate Change Rises as a Public Priority.

But It’s More Partisan Than Ever.

By Nadja Popovich Feb. 20, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/20/climate/climate-change-polls.html

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Pictures of Mother

The Good Days

https://brightside.me/wonder-places/15-parts-of-the-world-in-which-spring-is-especially-beautiful-114955/

If you come to visit us sometime you should ask Mother about her childhood. She has so many wonderful stories about our family.

____________________________________________________

The Bad Days

https://www.boredpanda.com/environmental-pollution-overdevelopment-overpopulation-overshoot-global-population-speakout/?utm_source=ecosia&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic

I understand that these are hard to look at, but did you see what a beautiful and lively being she is on the good days? She’s family and she deserves to be loved, appreciated, and taken care of, just as she has been taking care of us our whole lives.

Let's be a family again, please?