I'm feelin' lucky

I had my annual physical yesterday. For a person of my age and size I'm in pretty good health.
But yesterday I learned that a friend and fellow teacher was in the hospice with cancer. I visited him for about 45 minutes this morning. He told me they brought him there to die but his wife convinced him to think about his family and fight it. He's off treatments and feeling better. We talked about our families and other matters. I kept a chess board in my office and Luciano would come down and play during his lunch hour. He usually beat me. He reminded me of the time we were so engrossed in chess that I finally asked him if he had a class at this time. He did and ran out of my office. He was a stickler for students being on time.
Many friends have stopped by. There is a banner on the wall signed by former students and friends. He has a large picture of his family on another wall and I think that is part of his inspiration to live. They usually feed the patients anything they want but his wife took all his sweets away from him and checks his diet.
I will miss my friend but I'm glad I got to spend this morning with him and hope we have some more mornings together.