‘You’re very brave.’
When Lizzie first told me she had cancer, I think one of my automatic responses was to say ‘you’re very brave.’
I think lots of people said it to her. ‘You’re very brave.’
Eventually, this began driving Lizzie nuts.
At one point, when I say ‘you’re very brave’, she replies ‘FUCK OFF!’
‘I’m not very brave,’ she continues, ‘I’ve got cancer. There’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just getting on with it.’
I look at her. ‘You’re very brave,’ I can’t resist saying again.
Lizzie scowls.
The next time I say ‘you’re very brave’, Lizzie does one of those twizzly hand gestures at me – where it looks like she’s cranking up her middle finger into an up-yours gesture.
‘FUCK OFF!’ she says again.
‘You’re very brave,’ I say again. I feel like I’m going to get a lot of mileage out of this.
P. D. Clifton 
Leave a comment