Play It, Sam: the Last Song

Metastatic cancer of the pancreas -- the "tetchiest" kind.  Stage IV.  Has spread to the liver.  Inoperable. Untreatable.

The long last run on the downhill track.  What a hoot!  Was I all THAT great an editor? But of course!  All of my best friends, on their sacred oath, so testify.

But the athletic feats; surely they have been embellished, if only a tad? No, I really did reel off strings of 125+ mph serves.  And the slice! Oh, the wicked slice! A legend of the American Southwest.  Not to mention the three-point shooting records in every age group from 50 through 80. Or the high school records in the high and low hurdles.  Or the 350-foot home run off a hanging curve ball thrown by a future major leaguer named Tom Butters, who became the Director of Athletics at Duke University.

Was higher praise ever uttered than the words of my baby daughter, Patricia? "The  best Papa Bear," she said, "in the entire world."

Or this (from Lois): "I love you."

I rest my case.

Thanks, World, for a helluva ride.