it was Maria who first spotted the artist in Ed and helped him to see himself as an artist, which he is. The Creative Spark burns so brightly in him, never more so than now. This week, he cannot even sit up by himself, he is attached to a catheter and has to be spoon fed most of his food.

Tethered to his bed, this active and strong and perpetually busy man is determined to be productive, and even though he only has one  arm to use, he is making art, sketches, paintings on glass, and then collapsing back into bed to rest.

Ed accepts his cancer and  he accepts the reality that he will die shortly, what he will not accept is being useless and unproductive on any given day. Towards the end, the artist inside of him has emerged, powerfully and with strength and skill.

I see him growing weaker by the day, he tells me is fine, feeling clear and  strong.

“I’m going to create things to my last breath, ” he says, and part of the beautiful symmetry of creativity is that Ed makes his art with Carol at his side helping, sometimes his daughter Maggie, or his sons, Jeremy, Chad and Jesse, sometimes his grandchildren, sometimes me, sometimes Maria.

We all stand in his circle, holding his hand.

He has brought everyone he loves into this intensely personal creative community, as he moves towards the edge of life. Truly, it is using up almost all the strength he has, it is also keeping him in our world.

I can’t quite say I’ve seen anything like it, and while it is sometimes hard to watch, it is mostly beautiful to watch, and I am privileged to be a part of it.  Carol, as  always, is supporting him in every possible way.

Ed and I have a powerful creative connection, and I understand exactly what he is doing.

Today, we talked about creativity and cancer on our 8th video together.