It Takes a Crisis

Last Saturday I traveled from my home in the Boston-area to Portland, Oregon, where my youngest sister Allison lives with her husband and two daughters.  Allison was diagnosed with breast cancer in March, and has since gone through a pretty dramatic series of procedures including a bilateral mastectomy.  She's now in the throes of chemotherapy.

Over the course of our few days together, our conversations invetably wandered to a topic you'd expect to come up at class reunions but not at...