Words of Wisdom

Posted by icemonkey9 on Nov 19, 2010 in Personal | 0 comments

Sorry, not about poker. This is about life. This year I had two very sad events happen to friends of mine. Back in February a friend of mine, Sarah, died in a one-car crash in San Diego. She was the stone cold nuts. Outgoing, full of life, life of the party, and everybody's best friend. She is still very much missed.

The other occurrence was with a lifelong friend, Amir, back home in San Diego. He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and his battle has been long and extremely difficult. He didn't want friends and family flooding him during his recovery, so he kept a blog which I read from time to time. Frankly, reading it every day and looking for an update upset me to a degree I never wish others to share. Fortunately, the good doctors at Scripps Clinic have managed to put Amir on a path to recovery and his tumors are either gone or shrinking to a significant degree.

Amir posted on his blog something I just read that I hope has as much impact for you all as it did for me when I read it. You should understand that Amir is a great guy, athlete, a total bro kind of friend and one of the absolute most positive and fun people you'll ever meet in a lifetime. Amir celebrated his birthday a few days ago, one that frankly some of us worried he wouldn't reach. Through his absolute strength, tireless fighting and positive energy he's here to celebrate it. Here's what he wrote:

"I once read somewhere that the secret to life is breath...well now I know the secret to life is purpose...purpose to be happy and purpose to just be. Today I'm 32, and my purpose is to heal and be here for a long time and love every moment through it. So here's a happy birthday to me and happy living to all of us...not living with your breath, but living with your purpose and love around us."