Dear Frank: Way to Man Up!

This morning I woke up to one of the best emails I have received since diagnosis.

It was an email dating back to 2008 from let's call him Frank.

Frank:
Hi Jenna, 
None of my friends and I are going ice skating on thursday evening. Would you like to join the party?


Jenna:
That message is freaking hilarious.
Join the party of one.
Ok then.


April 25, 2011
Frank:
Jenna, I just want to congratulate you on having the strength and courage to fight your cancer. I'm sure it has changed your life forever and will make you appreciate ever day you wake up to the fullest. I still remember ice skating with you in Millenium park a few months before I moved out of the country. Sorry for being a jerk to you after that night. But these are small things compared to the mammoth events we deal with through our lives, particularly yours. Take good care.



Dear Frank,
First and foremost thank you for digging up our email exchange from 2008. Your approach to asking me out was pretty adorable. Also- way to man up! Nothing like an apology 3 years later!  Apology accepted, and no need to apologize- dating is a jungle out there.


Hope you are rocking out.
-Jenna

This whole email exchange really made me laugh, and also made me pause.  Thank you Frank for having the balls to own up to being a jerk after ice skating. Thank you Frank for reminding me how insignificant our failed date was in the scheme of my life.  Thank you Frank for giving me insight into how Cancer can cause us to think about how we treat each other.

Does it have to take a Cancer diagnosis, for us to treat each other better?

If there is anything I have learned over the past five months, it's that life is fragile. We have a limited time here, and during that time we need to be good to each other- really good to each other.  That does not mean we won't mess up, but it means we should be making a concerted effort to be better.

So thank you Frank for making me think about how we treat each other.  Thank you Frank for making me reflect on those I have hurt and mistreated. And thank you Frank for reminding me how that there is nothing like a good apology- even if it's three years late.