Oh, I Hope I Don't Get Pulled Over...

What do you do when you don't look like yourself anymore?

Looking out from the inside I forget I am not the paunchy furrball I once was. I went to pick up my daughter at daycare and they almost didn't give her to me. Although they knew Katie's daddy was going through cancer treatment, it didn't prepare them for the change in my appearance. Fortunately Katie convinced them I was daddy, but that was after the question, "Who was that guy we've been giving her to?" Who indeed.

I passed a woman at the school who I have known since Cooper was small. She has a son Coop's age and we spent many hours together watching them earn their black belts. She tossed some friendly non-personal conversation my way, but when I responded in perhaps, a more familiar tone than she would expect from a stranger, she withdrew. It took me a few minutes to figure it out.

So I am driving a bit more carefully. Partially because I don't have the platelets for a big mistake, but also because I don't relish the "recovering cancer patient" explanation to the trooper.

As for me, the mirror on the medicine cabinet has a stranger on it. I guess I better get used to him, he's going to be there for a while.