On a Monday like today, five years ago, I received the call that yes, it was cancer, three different varieties, no less. Pictured are three nurses with me one year later, when I thought that detour was behind me. Well, LOL, I had no idea that the journey was only going to get more, well, complicated.
The word metastasis was new to me but I could not have defined it. Now I can. But more than that, I can better define gratitude. (I have read that gratitude can change your brain, which in my case is especially appreciated 😉 The state of being grateful. It is a good state to live in. I cannot express enough gratitude to these nurses, for their kind and compassionate care, now with added layers of masks and face shields. I don’t have the words for the depth of heart that so many teachers are trying to pour through screens into young lives. I am in awe of the creativity of musicians and artists and writers and preachers lifting our hearts and touching our souls when we are weary, when they are weary. I pray for parents younger than I, doing hard things. My family endlessly shows patience when circumstances are not what we hoped. Resilience abounds.
Little did I know how I would mark the five-year mile stone. A walk, a Zoom call, no frantic cleaning the house for Thanksgiving. But no matter the changing nature of each day, the worries of our troubled world, who-knows-what-is- around-the-bend, I’m sure happy to be here. To Every. Single. Person. who has touched these past five years, thank you.
May your Thanksgiving week abound with resilience and hope.
writing along the way 