It would be hard to think of two people whose feet pound more quickly in an emergency. He is a fireman. She is a nurse. When smoke fills the room, or a child cannot breathe, they are the ones to drop everything and go. Now. 

Yet this time it is he who is at the center of the whirling decisions. Cancer arrived uninvited, and changed everything. Well, not everything. 

His wife still loves him. His children still hold him at the center of their world. His circle of friends are not going away. When word got out about what was happening his phone "blew up". Blew up. Like the infernos that ignite in an instant, triggering him and his team to yank on boots and gear. Ready to face anything. It sounds like his tribe are no slower in their response time. 

No one wants the diagnosis. Or the verdict. Or the bill. Yet the invisibles that fill the vacuum left behind the blast are, dare I say it, when the miracles come. 

Finding out how much we are cherished is one of our primary tasks in this life. To know deep in our being that love outlasts four walls, and even this bag of bones.