Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Courage. Character.
Most of you have probably heard the bad news: Elizabeth Edwards’s breast cancer has returned (report on MSNBC). This morning, Karen and I followed the story with a lot of concern and anxiety. When we heard the couple were holding a press conference to discuss Elizabeth’s health, we feared the worst.
We support John Edwards — but that phrase barely scratches the surface of how we feel about these two. We’re enthusiastic about John and Elizabeth. We admire them. We regard them as heroic figures.
And neither one of us can remember the last time we felt this way about any candidate for the US Presidency.
Some of you know that Karen and I have been through a certain amount of grief. Nothing like John and Elizabeth, who had to get past the death of their son, Wade, but I think we’ve been through enough to appreciate the difficulty of picking things up and moving forward. Tough enough to just keep going; truly remarkable to turn everything around and live an exemplary life of service to the nation.
Before Wade’s death in a car accident in 1996, Edwards was an extremely successful North Carolina trial lawyer. Judging from his book (Four Trials), the man had it made — a much sought-after attorney who had made his reputation by defending the underdog against big corporations. He writes,
I have always been an optimist, but I was a different kind of optimist before Maundy Thursday, April 4, 1996. That was the day my son died and my world stopped turning.
In spite of disappointments that had been real to me, up until that day I had always known mine was a happy life. And I admit that all along I had a secret sense that it would go on like that forever.
Edwards has since attributed his move into politics to this tragedy. Here is a guy — a family — who got kicked in the teeth, but they got up, dusted themselves off, moved on. They did it again in ’04 when Elizabeth was first diagnosed with breast cancer, and they’re doing it now, with the news of her recurrence.
From the MSNBC report:
Mr Edwards insisted it was possible to combine a vigorous campaign with caring for his wife, promising to be at her side “any time, any place” she needed him.
“We’ve been confronted with these kind of traumas and struggles already in our life,” he said, referring to the death of their 16 year-old son in a car accident in 1996. “When this happens you have a choice — you can go and cower in the corner or you can go out there and be tough.”
If you saw the press conference, you know the bond that exists between Elizabeth and John. It’s palpable. They’ve been together thirty years, they’re true partners, they love each other, and it all shows.
Regardless of your political affiliation, take a moment to check out Edwards’s website. Get to know the man. And you can give them your best wishes and prayers here.
D.
I have been married thirty years so it is easy for me to understand the bond that they have but I could never explain it to a newlywed.
It’ll be 23 years this June for us. We’ve been through a lot, though. I think some of those 23 years count double.
There’s such love between them, and I don’t get that from the other candidates. Well — maybe Barack Obama and his wife, but I haven’t had much chance to observe them.
I worry that this blog might make me seem like a gee whiz starstruck political fan boy, but I just feel so good about this guy. And, yeah, he has fucked up in the past. He supported the Iraq War (but later admitted it was a terrible mistake — something Hillary can’t bring herself to do). He supported the Patriot Act (but he became alarmed at its implementation even when Ashcroft was AG). But I think it’s important to look for someone with strength of character. That’s more important to me than agreeing with the candidate’s stance on every last issue.
Anyway, I spent the day choked up over this whole thing. Choked up over the bad news for Elizabeth, choked up again when they announced he would stay in the race. I’m so proud of them.
It’s a terrible thing to happen to them, and they definitely have admirable strength. It must be surreal to be going through a personal struggle so dire and at the same time having to observe how the public reacts to it vis a vis your political campaign…
I think I’ve mentioned before that, despite the hype in the other camps, Edwards has seemed to me the most forthright and supportable candidate so far. It irks me that he doesn’t support gay marriage, but niether does anyone else but Kucinich, anyway. Ah, Dennis…
Gay marriage: People are coming around to it, though, and the country’s overall pendulum is swinging left, thank God. I tend to take a Marxist view of things. With regard to gay marriage, I think corporate interests (especially insurance companies) are taking advantage of the religious right’s homophobia.
He’s a genuinely good guy – and for that reason doesn’t have a chance in politics.
I disagree. He’s also an extremely savvy guy, and he’s squeaky clean. Why else did Ann Coulter have to manufacture the “faggot” story? Why else is it that the worst thing people can use against him is a few minutes of hair-primping on camera? Because the man is scandal-clean. Clean even of the appearance of impropriety. And I think that scares the hell out of the Right.
Dean & I watched this breaking while taking a coffee break in Seattle – it’s tragic, but I kept thinking about their kids and what this will mean to them.
F*ck! I had not heard. My oncologist’s voice rings in my ears “The first time you can be cured of breast cancer, thereafter it can only be managed.” An f’ed up way to go. Everyone says the same thing too, “But I feel just fine.”
Between this and the rat poison in the pet food, I’ve used up most of a box of Kleenexes boo hooing around the house. I used to be such a tough nut and now I’m just a nut.
Yup, Karen & I were bummed about the kids, too. Very sad.
CD, we all know how great “managed” is. Folks are saying “like a chronic disease — like diabetes!” but we’re just not there yet.