It was 1979, and my Cajun great uncle Rebel Lee was not feeling well. The family doctor told him that he would do something called exploratory surgery and determine what was wrong.
After the surgery, Doc told him that there was so much cancer inside him that he had just sewed him right back together. That old doctor said Rebel Lee was about to meet his maker.
Rebel Lee pondered about his life in the hours that followed. He came to realize that his life had been full of somedays.
Someday, he will retire.
Someday, he will build a camp on the bayou.
Someday, he will hunt and fish anytime he wants to.
Now Rebel Lee understood there wouldn't be a someday, only today, with very few tomorrows. He decided that he wasn't going to wait any longer for someday. Rebel Lee would live his life the way he had always wanted to.
Rebel Lee didn't go home to his bed as Doc told him to when he was released from the hospital. Instead, He changed out the transmission on his old truck and loaded the cargo bed full of carpentry tools. He headed for the bayou with his dog beside him to build the camp he had always wanted.
In 1989, rebel Lee died in his sleep with his faithful dog beside him. It was an entire decade after his terminal cancer diagnosis. When his friends found him, they also found several freezers loaded with deer meat, catfish filets, and shrimp.
--- Sugie Bee