Excavating Tim...

Last Friday night the family went to the UK Art Museum to see the traveling exhibit called Excavating Egypt. It showcased the finds of archaeologist Sir William Petrie in the Nile Valley between 1880's and 1920's. It was so fascinating to see these artifacts that ranged from things of royalty to that of the commoners. One of the most fascinating to me was a rare beaded-net dress from the Pyramid Age, circa 2400 B.C.! And of course the mummies! It was amazing that things seemingly so fragile are incredibly intact after the passage of so much time.

As I shuffled through the exhibit that night it was striking to me how careful archaeologists have to be as they unearth the past. It is the care they had that led to their finding objects from this ancient civilization that were fully intact. I found myself telling the girls how careful archaeologists are when excavating -- using soft brushes to sweep fine particles away gently and slowly, a little at a time, to reveal the treasure that is trapped in the ground by the passage of time. Slowly and methodically they work to bring to light the secrets of the past. Of course not everything is whole as it is unearthed. In many cases, pieces are broken but those pieces may lay in such close proximity to the once whole object that you can see they fit together. So some things were ever so carefully put back together again so that to the unknowing eye it looked as though it was always whole.

I can't help but to think of our experience through cancer as an excavating mission. Much like the mummies and the artifacts we saw that were painstakingly unearthed and brought to light, so it with Tim. He was once whole and then broken by the demands of the prescribed regimen. His broken pieces lay in close proximity to him that you can see they fit. Much like the archaeologist, he is carefully being put back together again so that to the unknowing eye it looks as though he has always been whole.

And so his pieces are being put together again, slowly. Gently and carefully Tim's life is being excavated and salvaged a piece at a time -- his sense of humor, his guitar playing, his interaction with us, his return to work later this week..piece by piece his life is being excavated, reawakened, revived and made whole. What an expedition!