THE FOUR WORDS

With all courtesies extended to the late George Carlin - he of the seven words (really now, only six, because "piss" has wormed it's way in to the lexicon-airwaves) you can't say on television, there are four words that nobody wants to hear - and certainly not in person.

"We found a spot."

It doesn't matter when they're uttered. There's no good time for those words. Not the sixteenth birthday of your youngest child, not within days of your oldest child's departure for the adventure of a young lifetime that is the collegiate experience, certainly not when you feel like you are nearing the peak of physical fitness, except for a little tightness and pressure on inhaling.

Not when the surrounding world is in turmoil either. Who is ill this week? Who else is out of work? Who has passed away suddenly? Who lost their home?

The temptation is to take a seat and bury the head and try desperately, selfishly and in vain, to wish it all away. But wishing is the stuff of talking crickets, and fairy godmothers and all things Disney, isn't it?

So the best thing that can be done, really, is to press onward and forward, stick with the routine. Especially when the ominous is not the only alternative - even if you've never heard of "San Joaquin Valley Fever" before, though the doctor seems to know all about it. Even if you can't imagine life any other way than you've known it for nearly three decades. Onward and forward. Faith and trust. Optimism and hope. Even if the only difference is that the latter choice means keeping one's head up.

Okay, break's over, back to work.