"Of course," their Mom answers turning the menu over to inspect the offerings on the back.
It's my first introduction to the "culture" I'll eventually marry into, this crazy collection of girls making up our home.
Desserts are ordered and enjoyed before everyone turns their attention to the main entrees.
The girls are grown and the dessert first dinners are mostly a thing of the past though I increasingly love the image it holds for me now.
I'm savoring life's desserts.
The times for major feasts and festivals have drawn to a close.
"I just got the cheapest thing on the menu," I explain to Sarah. "I'm not going to eat it all."
"Get whatever you want," she instructs more than suggests.
I stick with what I now know about my half size stomach.
No desserts are ordered but Sarah's talking to Cassidy who's talking to me while the faces of both are illuminated from the tiny phone screens in their hands.
My phone's on Sarah's other side and I'm happily content being part of being here with them.
Dessert enough!
I've progressed from the "You look great" and the "you sound good" stages of pancreatic cancer to the "you have the greatest outlook and attitude!"
This is what I've learned so far about having cancer.
You can be the funniest person in the entire Universe but if you have stage 4 pancreatic cancer, no body laughs at anything you have to say.
It's probably that there's nothing funny about having cancer so when I laugh, it makes a horrifying situation worse.
I try to be respectful but I'm a "laugh at the funeral" sort of guy anyway!
If I'm going to have cancer then it's going to be on my terms dammit!
At least for as long as I'm going to laugh!
It's all absurd anyway!
Forgotten promises made long ago suddenly reappear as our only hope and Sarah picks up the phone, makes the call into her past and, amid incredible romance, tragedy, hurt and sandy kisses, we find our love.
In the furious crashing of worlds colliding our family is born and, though we're far from finishing blending, we have a love child because she wouldn't be denied, bringing us to just the right amount of flavors for our lives stew in together.
What's not to laugh at?
Other than the fact this parties coming to an end, at least my participation in it, and though we have no clue as to when, everybody's getting ready in their own ways.
I try to have fun with it, amusing myself in things I find humorous and maybe it's the best I can do anymore.
What's mostly been lost for us during the past year of "the curse of cancer" is the time to enjoy being with each other.
There's always an emergency, one surgery turns into three, recuperations take longer, internal organs sacrificed, eating's a struggle, focus is "iffy" and my energies always depleted.
Thank God for my wife nursing me through it all juggling ceaseless job demands, growing girls, one of who left for College changing the ingredients of our family stew which takes lots of energy on it's own. This makes it the perfect time to move so, for lots of reasons, Sarah single handedly moves us inside of a week!
We're determined to make better use of the time we have left, however much it is, to laugh more together, explore new things and travel while we can.
We can't do exhaustion anymore.
It's time to savor life's desserts!
There isn't time for anything else.
I read once we easily remember our beginnings, recalling the details joyfully whenever we so desire. It’s the endings where we fail so miserably, unable to understand things starting to fall apartt and, before we know it, it’s over.
Sarah and I are determined to enjoy everything we possible can, making it the best of a desserts, the grandest of finales, the greatest of love stories.
