Day 6 - Daily Chores

I woke up early, drank some hot lemon water, then took a nap, :-) so it is almost noon.
It is a cloudy day, but I have to do laundry.  So, I am doing laundry, late on a cloudy day. Duh!

This brings to mind a Buddhist parable about a young novice Monk. His job was to cut wood, and carry water for the monastery.
One day he asked the head Monk. "What will I do after I have achieved total  enlightenment?"
The head Monk replied "Chop wood, and carry water."

Before I was diagnosed, I used to wash dishes, mop the floor, and do laundry. Now that I have cancer, I wash dishes, mop the floor, and do laundry.

I have always liked to do dishes. I don't know why. While washing dishes, I feel like I am doing something that people have been doing, for as long as there have been people.
 Instead of wiping the left over mammoth off a rock, I use dish washing detergent and hot water in a stainless steel sink. But the principle is the same.
My girlfriend Maddie, is a very clever soul, and she understands this. If I don't feel like doing dishes she happily does them, but other wise she leaves the kitchen sink to me. I appreciate that.
When we visit people for supper or a braai (bar-b-cue). I always ask if I can help wash up. People always say something like "Never will I allow a guest to do that.!)
They never believe me when I say "I want to do the dishes." They never think about what I want, only how it would look to others, and what "others" would think about them.
Maybe most of their guests say they want to help, but never really mean it. Do they have the sort of guests that would consistently lie about things like that? Are good manners really just small lies? Why can't good manners be truths?

I have become sensitive to people's "intentions" in their actions around me. Some of my friends are the best people to have ever lived, and they truly have my best interest at heart.
 Others, not so much.
When some "friends" find out I have cancer, the first thing they do is to tell all their friends. This gets them attention and sympathy from their peers.
They will tell their peers how we were so close, and how devastated they are. Yet, they had not bothered to answer my emails for many months.
All false, all show, all shallow.  These "friends" have a very long path in front of them. Their whole lives are centered around themselves.  News Flash people! My cancer is NOT about you.