Health

I met a friend yesterday for the first time in a few weeks. As I went to say hi to him, I noticed half of both his eyebrows looked shaved. I asked jokingly, “Tell me, are your students shaving you while you sleep?” He smiled and said, “Look at my beard and my arms mate.” I suddenly noticed that there too there were patches of hair ‘missing’. Obviously concerned, I asked, “Is everything ok mate?” He smiled quite reassuringly and said, “I’m not sure but the doctors are running all kinds of tests.”

Before the conversation ended, I apologized for my joke. He took no offense but inside, my heart sunk. Something is happening to this healthy 28 year old adult, a husband & a father of a beautiful girl. Hopefully it’s nothing major but it just scared me. Too often, we take our health for granted … We forget it’s not really in our hands. I guess that’s why Tante Amelie , and many others, always say רק בריאות (Hebrew for ‘only health’)…

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