Three months ago ...

I have chemotherapy Monday, three months to the day after I was diagnosed with lung cancer. Dec. 27 seems a lifetime ago. I just found out it was a life-changing day for one of my first cousins. He died on that day. Obviously we weren't close or I would have heard sooner. I last saw Kent at my Uncle Winston's funeral in 2001. It was the first, and only, time we met as adults. I don't know the cause of death, only that he died in a hospital in his native Alabama. I'll probably put on my reporter's hat soon and find out how he died. He is survived by his wife and a son, Jake. That leaves Jake; my son, Daniel; and me as the only living male descendants of my paternal grandfather. ...
I'm packing a lunch for chemo. It is supposed to last a couple of hours, but you never know. ...
I've mentioned several times about being on several prayer lists. I was just added to another: a Choctaw powwow. If I had been around during the Trail of Tears, I would have been sent to Oklahoma because I have enough Cherokee in me to legally be considered an Indian. I'm sure the Choctaw prayer will work for a Cherokee. ...
I leave you with an excerpt from Del "Abe" Jones' "The Neverending Trail":

Each mile of this infamous "Trail"
Marks the graves of four who died ~
Four thousand poor souls in all
Marks the shame we try to hide ~

You still can hear them crying
Along "The Trail Of Tears"
If you listen with your heart
And not with just your ears.