Maybe not as normal as I thought

Rougher day for Liz today. Lots of foot and toe pain/burning, general blah-ness, body aches, exhaustion. Likely early peripheral neuropathy as a side effect of the chemotherapy, which is terribly unfortunate and highly inconvenient—not to mention painful and stupid (don't tell Cohen I used that word)—but it is relatively common, since the chemo drugs often damage nerve cells on their no-holds-barred quest to destroy cancer cells. But her mind is as sharp as ever, and she is a compassionate, caring, loving lady. She even tolerated me breaking the "comfort IN, dumping OUT" cardinal rule as we talked for a while this evening. It's tough seeing her in pain and feeling horrible, especially when there's nothing I can do about it. I'm a guy: I want to fix things. We just hope and pray that the treatments will help long-term and we'll forget about these short-term annoyances and frustrations.

Go Team Liz!

Now back to work and school stuff for me tonight before bed. In the meantime, see below for your reading pleasure. Or, more likely, for your reading head-shaking and time wasting.

The following discussion took place a couple of weeks ago between Mike (M) and me (A). It was a pretty typical sibling conversation. It seemed pretty normal in the moment. Maybe not as normal as I thought.

M:  Hey Aaron.
A:   Wuzzzzzuuuuuuuup bro.
M:  I was just talking with Maren and she said that onions were the only food that made her cry.
A:   Oh yeah?
M:  Yeah, so I threw an apple at her face.
A:   ...huh.
M:  OK, I'm still working on it.
A:   You're getting there. Funny, yes. But it didn't really flow about throwing it at her face.
M:  Maybe I'm a bad shot and don't even hit her. That wouldn't make her cry.
A:   Well it might make her cry that her husband has such bad aim.
M:  True.
A:   You could say "so I hit her with an apple..."
M:  Concise, gets the point across. I think food is a little too general, doesn't direct the audience to a specific thought. I should probably change it from all food to a vegetable or fruit.
A:   Yeah, you should limit the food groupings. Why not just use a vegetable.
M:  True. I guess I could consolidate it by just throwing a vegetable, like a potato.
A:   Potatoes aren't really that funny.
M:  That's what the Irish said.
A:   Oooh...too soon.
M:  Coconut?
A:   Don't be ridiculous. Anyone can do a coconut joke.
M:  What about avocado?
A:   "So I hit her with an avocado..." Yes, it's funnier, but it still doesn't provide optimal comedic flow. How about an artichoke?
M:  Hmmm...artichoke...
A:   Or artichoke heart?
M:  That's better, but almost too expected as a funny vegetable. What about an eggplant?
A:   That works: funny vegetable, not expected, large enough to hurt.
M:  Okay, so, "I was just talking with Maren and she said that onions were the only vegetable that made her cry. So I hit her with an eggplant."
A:   Much better, that sounds good.
M:  Good, thanks.
A:   Awesome. Have a good one.
M:  You too.
A:   Ciao.