The Mindless Eternal, 28th Day of Hagwinter, 525 M.E. (Castor):  Today, I heard my first words from my kid sister since her cancer surgery earlier this week. Her jaw's still wired shut and she has some sort of tube in her throat for some reason, but she was able to grunt out a "hello" and a few words to me as her husband held the phone up to her face. 

She and the husband are something of technophobes - she doesn't even have a cell phone and he only has an old flip phone. That's unfortunate, because if ever there was a time for communicating via text messages, it's now. As it is, she's using an electronic pad provided by the hospital to write out short messages by hand and her husband reads me what she's written over his phone. I find it amusing when I see young people sitting across from each other and texting instead of talking, but when your jaw's wired shut and there's a tube down your throat, I think it's acceptable to text.

Impermanence is swift and life and death are the great matter. This dew-like existence should be cherished while it lasts, even while we recognize that sickness, old age, and death are the inevitable results of being born.