the dreaded "C" word...

The dreaded "C" word.
I'm not talking about that "C" word.
Not the the swear word that a piggy guy would call you causing an open invitation for you to viciously kick him in the scrotum. Not the same silly word comedian Craig Ferguson gleefully skips around in a wicked childlike manner described in his book "Between the Bridge and the River".
No, this dreaded "C" word is cancer.
It seems like almost every other week I hear of somebody coming down with this scary disease. Whenever I hear bad news that somebody has cancer I shrink down as if to hide from the grim reapers pointy little finger of fate.
One of my customer's son has terminal cancer, my pal up in Maine's favorite hair stylist has cancer, a dive buddy has cancer, and a dog walker's favorite pet, a basenji dog just died of cancer.
I've been to enough funerals. I've heard numerous times said at wakes as if to comfort the aggrieved "oh they are at a better place now".
What does that mean?
Heaven?
Is there such a place?
Or it something people made up so they don't feel so bad when somebody dies.
Do you actually see a "white light" or is it a completely gray void like falling face first in a vat of cement?
I remember in second grade catechism class the teacher telling us that only good Catholics go to heaven.
I thought about this for a bit.
At the time, I didn't know anybody in my neighborhood that wasn't Catholic so that part didn't phase me. To me, everyone was a Catholic.
What DID bother me was the exclusion of any other beings that weren't human.
So I raised my hand asking if my recently deceased anole (lizard) would go to heaven.
The teacher responded, "no, only people".
"Just people?" I responded.
"Yes, you'll be with all your dead relatives"
Then panic struck me.
"Oh no..."
I pictured myself sitting on a plastic covered couch told not to touch anything and to be quiet.
No pets, just mean old cranky relatives.
It occurred to me that going to heaven would SUCK big time.
If that was the case who the hell would want to go to heaven?
So what do you?
Is there really a heaven?
Do they or don't they admit animals?
I don't know.
If there is a heaven, is it something we just imagine it to be?
I'd like to think and believe that there is a heaven.
I'd imagine it to be sort of like "Atlantis" without the annoying people but with lots of fish, birds and iguanas. And of course, a dunkin donuts at every corner without having to worry about calories.
Regardless, I try to treat each day as if you are eating that last chocolate chip cookie in the bag.
I try to savor and enjoy life to the fullest.
I try to make an effort to be nice, cheery and the hardest part, trying not be an a$$hole but not for the (selfish) reason for thinking that you're going to get a 'reward in the end" but for just for the sake of being.