[2022-03-12] Appreciation, gratitude, acceptance
In a 2001 interview, Luther Vandross recounted a story when he was at a restaurant with his friend Whitney Houston.
By his own account, he was at his biggest weight. He looked at a waiter walking by and said to his dinner companion:
"You see, Whitney, that's the size I want to get down to."
"Why?"
"He has a 34 waist. He's my height. You know, it's just right."
"Yeah, but Luther, he can't sing."
"Yeah, yeah, but look at how the jacket falls. You know, that's how the designer meant for it to happen."
"Yeah, but Luther, he can't sing."
I loved this story when my daughter shared it recently. It reminded me to appreciate what I have, to be grateful for the talents I possess, and to accept what is good in my life right now.
That's not to say that I can't have goals and that I can't look forward to a better future (such as one in which I am completely recovered from cancer treatment). But there is value in appreciating, being grateful for and accepting my current reality.
Today, in response to a question from a friend who asked whether I was fully recovered from radiation, I acknowledged that I wasn't yet 100%, but concluded: "my recovery is not getting in the way of my doing what I want to do."
Luther Vandross noted in his interview that Whitney's message resonated throughout his life. I imagine his repeating to himself, whenever he felt that something was amiss in his life, "But, hey, I can sing."
Similarly, in an email tonight to a fellow cancer survivor, I wrote that I can dismiss a lot of things that might otherwise bother me (such as having thinner hair than before I had chemo) with this simple truth: "But, hey, I'm alive."
