Two Friends - Breast Cancer - Lessons

Michelle.  She has had her surgery and is at the beginning of her chemo treatments.  Round two is today which prevented her from going to the airport to see her son off.  He's a marine.

Karin.  A "sister" who I have just begun to start talking to and getting to know finished her chemo treatments on Christmas Eve (2015)!!!!!  Her next step will be her  surgery.  Her mom is ALSO battling along side her from what I understand.

Cabrini's Pink Out game October 2015

Cancer, no matter the type, does not discriminate.  When hit with it though, something happens; strength one never thought could be mustered is birthed.  Emotions one never thought had, well up.  Appreciation for EVERYTHING takes precedent over bitterness and annoyance about things that don't matter.  I'm not sure if Michele and Karin can relate to all that follows but for me......



       You cry more but you also smile and laugh more.  

You care.  OH, do you care!  You cherish like you've never cherished before.  

       You learn to prioritize and set limitations.  It's not easy at first because you're supposed to be superwoman but eventually you learn at this time in your life, you cannot, 



                                            HOWEVER,


       you do what you can when you can because even though you're tired, you're never ever giving up hope and faith that you're going to beat this.   



You become humble.  Relying on others when you are used to doing it all becomes a way of life during this time.  It's not easy but you go with it and learn to accept the help.


      Your faith in God becomes your strength when you think you can't do it anymore. 


 
    These lessons learned (the hard way sometimes) become teaching tools for the future.  YOU become the supporter.  YOU become the one someone else relies on.  YOU become the blessing to someone else because you "know".  You know what it is like and will look back and say to yourself, "There was a reason.  I was within God's perfect plan that I had to go through that." Someone else needed me too. 


It goes without saying, cancer isn't the only interruption in life that can teach us to learn from the trial we must endure.  I think we are allowed to mourn, yell, kick, scream and claim it's not fair.  Heck, I did!  I always tried to move out of that frame of mind and ask God to renind me why or who I needed to fight this fight for.


I see in Michele and Karin the strength they have mustered up, the emotions they've felt, the appreciation they have, and how they are cherishing life and all that it has to offer; the little things and the big.  As I watch them, they inspire me to embrace my challenges in life like they are because we really do only have one life on this earth to live and I believe God does want us to live it to the fullest. 

If you're in a place in your life that you don't have the kind of faith Michele, Karin and myself have, consider putting your faith in the one Lord, Jesus who can help you through and give you peace in the midst of the storm.  If He's tugging at your heart to turn to Him, trust it's the right time. His timing is always perfect! 



     

Recap of My 2014 New Year's Resolution Challenge - Birthday Wishes

Anyone make a New Year's Resolution for 2015?  If so, what?  

I typically don't make resolutions but at the last minute at the end of 2013, I had this "bright" idea of writing every one of my FB friends a special wish on their birthday in 2014 on my wall for my whole friend's list to see.  Sounds sweet, right?  Just as most people are gung-ho when they first make a resolution, I was too. 
      
      I only told Dennis. 
            I was bound and determined. 

The first couple days/weeks were pretty cool.  Writing those wishes for the first few people was super fun.  I received some precious thank yous from them and just smiled. 

      Fast forward a couple weeks where the busyness of life is back in full swing; school, lunch monitoring, appointments, errands and, oh, my New Year's Resolution!  Check Facebook to see if anyone has a birthday today and sure enough, but, "Oh crap! I don't know this person all that well.  We went to school together but we weren't really friends." 
             So I stalk his/her Facebook page, go dig out my yearbooks, ask Dennis about this person (since we went to the same HS together) just so I can try to remember this particular person and make a sincere wish without pulling hogwash out of my booty.  Success, another wish posted! 

After about the second month, this commitment started to become habit for me.  I would even look ahead a few days to see whose wish was on my agenda so I could think about and plan accordingly when I knew I had a busy day ahead of me. 

   My whole goal here was to breathe life into my friends.  No matter what our differences, what beliefs we shared or disagreed about, no matter what religion, political stance, the idea was to find and share the positives, to share a memory or how this person matters.  Some posts were more difficult only because either I didn't know a person too well (some I have never even met in person) OR I knew that person SO well that it was difficult to condense.  Many times I had to go on what I've read on Facebook, friends' comments, spouses' comments and so forth.  Prayer was my friend.  I often asked God to help enlighten me to say the right things.  I was really starting to take this resolution to heart more than when I started it.  I didn't want to blow smoke up anyone's butt. 

March comes along and I'm out of town with my family for the weekend for a wedding.  I realize I have a couple birthdays to do which I believe I ended up having to do on my cell. 
I think to myself, "I have more than 3/4 of a year to go with this!  What was I thinking!?!?" It's not that I didn't want to do it but man, this is a huge commitment I made.  I didn't think anyone would really care if I just stopped doing but somehow that couldn't be an option for me.  My brother-in-law was at this same wedding and told me how cool it was that I was doing this.  This was confirmation and encouragement for me to keep on going strong. 

             It started coming to a point where this was a part of my FAMILY's routine.  Dennis would ask me, "You have any birthday wishes today?" Or, "How many wishes do you have today?"  It was something I couldn't not do even if I wanted to.  There were times Dennis would come home from work and I'd be at my computer trying to concentrate on a birthday wish and he would be chatting away and then catch himself and apologize because he knew how important it was for me to get it just right. 

Now, truth be told, there was a moment when I wanted to go through my friend's list to see who I didn't know all that well or who didn't communicate with me so that maybe I can just de-friend that person before his/her birthday came.  OR if a friend request came along, maybe I could check their profile to see if they had a birthday yet and not accept until AFTER their birthday.  (I actually did check the friend requests and more often than not their darn birthdays still had yet to arrive but I accepted them anyway.  GRRRRRR!)   There was no way I could've done that.  I would've had guilt anyway. 

       So, I have these friends who motivated me to keep going in another 'sick' way....."I can't wait for my birthday!  I look forward to your wish!"  "I'm only staying on Facebook for your birthday wish."  No pressure there!  Lol!  In all honesty that was motivation for me to keep going and to do this to the best of my ability. 


    Such a challenge.  A bigger challenge than I originally thought it would be.  The reward was so worth it though.  I stalked your pages, your pics, my yearbook, your friends' comments.  I even inboxed a friend now and then to remind me about you.  It made me more aware of every single one your posts, your interests, your trials, your accomplishments.  Hello, there must be some sort of reason you're my friend!  You matter and not just on your birthday.  The birthday wish was just a reminder on your special day that you do matter. 

I have some pretty interesting, loving, quirky, compassionate, off the wall, talented, caring, gifted, giving, friends who make my life that much better for knowing them.  I'm glad I continued on with this challenge.  I know I missed at least one birthday and apologize if I missed any others.  Know it wasn't on purpose.  As for this year's New Year's Resolution, I think it may have something to do with Bible reading and posting Bible verses. 

Happy New Year, folks!