Thrive!

Tonight was a long time coming .... A celebration dinner with my good friend "M" and my sister, Christie.  M & I had planned to get together after our treatments were done to celebrate coming through to the other side (M was diagnosed 2 days before I was).  When Christie was diagnosed, we then decided to wait until the three of us could come together and make a toast to success!

Tonight was it! Panara's.... yummmmm

I was thrilled to introduce the 2 of them and tickled pink when we giggled like school girls as we shared our more humorous stories.  And the conversation doesn't always have to be about cancer.  We shared about our families, our learnings from our experiences and how it changed our outlook in life (ok, alot of it was "because of cancer") and just enjoyed each other's company. 

Chemo brain was a huge part of our laughter as one of us would start a thought and then forget what we were going to say... and then the other 2 would have to try to remember key words of what was being said in order for the memory to jolt back into the moment.  If you don't get it, don't worry about it!  It truly is a memory loss that only a chemo cocktail can promote!

I thought it very interesting when M said she didn't think of herself as a survivor, but as a thriver. 

No matter what your circumstance

 

Everyone should strive to thrive!

 

 

 

 

 

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Happily Ever After

For several years I had been hoping one of our wedding anniversaries would be worthy of a cruise. When the 20th anniversary rolled around in 2008 Richard had lost his job, we'd lost my sister, Cathy, among several other loved ones and frankly, didn't feel like celebrating.

So, I set my sights on our 25th anniversary, but inadvertently joined the BC Club. When we calculated all of my treatments and discovered I'd be finished 2 weeks before this special anniversary, neither one of us could even begin planning something that far in the future, especially when we didn't know what the future would hold.

Yesterday we decided to get away for the weekend even though I'm feeling kind of tired from the radiation. So, this morning I found a castle in Hocking Hills with an enchanted forest full of cabins. I am so happy that we made it this far and have each other. I am a very lucky girl to have my knight in shining armor, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Now, I need to go pack!

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