Everything and everyone have an expiration date. As you approach a certain age, which I am rapidly approaching, that realization becomes increasingly clear. The interesting thing about expiration dates, though, is that they’re not always exact. Take food as an example, a container of milk might have today’s date printed on it, but that doesn’t mean it instantly spoils at midnight, it only may spoil at midnight. In reality, the milk may be perfectly good for a few days, another week, or maybe two.
With humans it is a little different. For the most part, your expiration date is thankfully unknown. It is like playing Russian Roulette, Click, Click, Bang, Gone. Off course many of us will live long lives but many of us may not.
Several of my friends faced this uncertainty when they were diagnosed with cancer. They fought long and difficult battles despite being told they had only months to live. One friend, after enduring major surgery and aggressive chemotherapy for stage 4 metastatic breast cancer was told she was in remission only to find out one week later that it had metastasized to her brain. Still, she continued the good fight and because of this she was finally able to go to the Stanley cup finals and watch the Washington Capitals win! If you follow the Caps, they make it to the Stanley Cup finals but are eliminated in around the second round.
Another friend had pancreatic cancer. He kept going to the doctor who repeatedly dismissed his symptoms as simple stomach issues. When he finally was tested, the diagnosis came too late, he had already passed the window where chemotherapy might have extended his expiration date. If his expiration date had just been extended even one or two days, he would have seen the birth of his first granddaughter. Granted pancreatic cancer is a death sentence but, in this case, the medical community failed him by not listening. OK, enough of this heavy talk and back to expiration dates.
I read a book all about human expiration dates that I think is a perfect summer read. The book is called Expiration Dates by Rebecca Searle. She is the same author that wrote The Dinner List, which I wrote about on April 23. (Also a great summer read).
The book follows Daphne, a woman who believes the universe has a plan for her—one that reveals itself every time she begins a new relationship. Each time she receives a slip of paper with his name and the exact number representing their time together, their expiration date. Yet, she has always wondered if one day, there would be a slip without an expiration.
Then, day after a blind date she finally does. The slip contains only one thing, the name Jake, her blind date.
As their relationship unfolds, Daphne starts questioning things and the plot continues.