Thanksgiving is right around the corner. For the most part, I could not be more excited. I love the holiday season, and I can’t wait for the weeks of festivities.
I find myself preoccupied by events that took place in the fall of 2010. I can’t help but to try to mentally walk through the many firsts that happened – all between Mid-November and Christmas. It was this very week that I had the critical ultrasound and biopsy. Two days before Thanksgiving I received my cancer diagnosis. My first meeting with the oncologist and PET scan occurred the following week. My first chemotherapy happened the very next week.
I am grateful that I kept a blog. I can remember the big moments – some as if they are in slow motion. But a lot of the detail of that time has now faded. But having captured it in writing, I am able to read and trigger my memory. It is a peculiar sensation though, because I feel like I’m reading someone else’s story. And in reading that story, I am so very proud of the humorous and strong heroine.
Glumly, I am haunted by her. She is an impossible role model. She got out of bed everyday with a kick-ass attitude. She was able to beat cancer! And even in illness, she was so full of life and so grateful for the people in her life and for all the moments that we take for granted.
It’s hard to live up to her. She conquered the Big C! If I’m lucky, I might conquer the Starbucks drive-thru. She woke up grateful to be alive each day. I wake up wishing I could sleep another hour. The small stuff meant nothing to the mighty heroine. I am sometimes so buried in the small stuff I forget to notice the sunshine peeking through. She knew her mission and never detoured from it. I’m no longer sure what my mission is.
I need to consult with the heroine. She must be around somewhere. Surely she can give me some advice on how to be more like her. Strong. Grateful. Focused. I want to be more like this somebody I used to know.
