Today I received a couriered package. There was no name on the package. On the back all it said was 'Thinking of you'.
It took me about 20 seconds to figure out who this was from.
At 21 seconds I laughed our loud. I mean I LOL'd.
Loud.
This is a great example of how cancer is a gift**. This was the gift of laughter. A gift of a long time memory and a long time friendship.
The idea of these sardines comes from a time when I was in my first Advertising Agency job in Toronto. And I believe Deborah sent these sardines to remind me that she is lurking somewhere to play a prank on me at any time.
Back in 1988, or 1989, Deborah Komlodi and Darrel Nicholson hid an open can of sardines in my office behind a very full book case of Neilson and BBM books. Every day it got stinkier and I couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from. Eventually the big boss came in to my office and ripped a strip off of me for being so smelly.
"Curse you Komlodi and Nicholson what have you done this time?"
You see, there were pranks going back and forth for a while. Jim and Darryl vs Deborah and Darrel. They were meaner and more willing to push the envelope. Heck the worst thing I did as a prank in the office at that time was to take the cotter pin out of my bosses wheelchair only to watch him lose it as he took a corner.
Eventually they finally confessed, sardines were moved in the darkness of night. We laughed hard.
Good times remembered.
Deborah and I are long distance friends to this day. Those long term friendships are gold and I really appreciate them even if they only mean a dinner every five years.
And I really appreciate the thought and memories invoked when getting a can of sardines in the mail. Unopened.
**I have asked my pal Jen to help me write a blog post on the idea of cancer being a gift (the idea is complex and I needed to pull her in to help me formulate it. Blog coming soon).