525,600 Minutes

I was introduced to theatre at a young age, and RENT is one of my favorite shows. While Broadway has always been avant garde and discussed hard topics and intense issues through story and song, RENT pushed the envelope even further. I’ve seen the show at least four times live and the movie version more than a dozen. I could never watch Jesse L Martin on “Law and Order” without seeing him as Tom Collins, and Idina Menzel will always be Maureen before she was Elphaba or Elsa.

If you’ve seen it, you know that at the beginning of the second act, the stage opens in darkness as the familiar notes of “Seasons of Love” start. The overhead lights begin to illuminate each cast member one at a time as they each add their voice to the ensemble for the famous song.

“525,600 minutes. 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes. How do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, and cups of coffee; in inches, in miles, in laughter and strife, how do you measure a year in the life? How about Love? Love! How about Love? Love! How about Love? Love! Seasons of Love!”

This week marks one year. One year that I had the biopsy. One year that I got the phone call telling me the biopsies identified cancer in the breast and the lymph nodes. One year that I suddenly was hit with a proverbial 2x4 to the head that my life would never, ever be the same again. 12 months. A year of seasons, holidays, sunrises, sunsets, births, deaths, highs, and lows. 525,600 minutes.

During the past year, time has mostly been marked by phases of treatment. Within those treatment phases, it’s been one day at a time, sometimes even one literal breath at a time. I could measure the last year in the surgeries (3), the chemo cycles (8) over the weeks (18), the radiation treatments (30), appointments (dozens), and miles to and from the clinic (too many to track). But damn, I really believe that RENT has it right. The best way is to measure a year is in love.