Master of Goodbyes
How many times must a man’s heart break before it will no longer heal? At least once more, I hope. Practice makes perfect, they say, but there are some things in life a man does not want to become good…
Read more
Author Archive: Jeffrey D. Cole
Why We Serve
When I was ten years old, I had a company’s worth (about 100) of GI Joe action figures. I had taken over my Granny Blessing’s living room with a six-foot long toy aircraft carrier. Her house was a frequent battleground…
Read more
The Day I Didn’t Want to End
We got home from Texas late Thursday night after two days of driving. What a blessing it was to walk in our house after being gone a month and a half. Thanks to our wonderful neighbors, we even had groceries…
Read more
First Things First
The first week of the second cycle of this clinical trial will be over tomorrow. So far, so good. I’ve faced the requisite nausea and depressed appetite, but overall there isn’t much to complain about. My neutrophils are low again,…
Read more
Lessons from the Playground
Sunday was the perfect Texas fall day. The temperature was in the mid-seventies with low humidity and there was barely a cloud in the sky. The nice weather and a growing case of cabin fever prompted us to take the…
Read more
Looking for the Light
No joke there I was. Iraq. 2005. Anbar Province. The height of the Sunni insurgency. Infantry company commander, pistol on my side and knife in my pocket, on my way to…the chow hall. It was already dark that winter night…
Read more
Living a Double Life
I am living a double life here in Houston. One is fairly normal, not all that different from the “old me.” The other life is the tumultuous existence of a cancer patient. I don’t live either life independently from…
Read more
I Missed the Bus but Found Hope
I wrote the blog post, “Hope in Houston,” a couple of weeks ago while I was getting chemotherapy at the hospital. I was by myself that day since I was feeling good and it was a short appointment. When the…
Read more
What Story Do I Want to Tell?
“Daddy, when you were little did you have a house?” “No, Emmy, when we were little we didn’t have a house. We had to sleep outside…and we liked it! Emmy, when you were little did you have toys?” “We didn’t…
Read more
Hope in Houston
We’re definitely not in Kentucky anymore, Bubba. There is no fall weather, at least not that we can tell yet. No leaves changing color. No die-hard Cats fans talking about how they can’t wait for basketball season to start. There…
Read more