Breast Cancer....looking back to day one of the "journey"

Here is a picture of me...
 taken this past summer on my birthday
 with my husband and tow of our grandchildren!

Today I am celebrating my 8th anniversary as a Breast Cancer Survivor! Thinking about that day gives me pause to reflect on everything that diagnosis meant to me. I was so surprised! Not angry, worried or emotional, just surprise. Maybe shock is really the word.

I worked hard to prove it didn't bother me and that things were just as they were the day before. I did not want to be perceived as a victim or a weepy woman that was going to yo to pieces. I wanted to be strong and to show that I believed I would make it onto the other side of that mountainous journey they call Breast Cancer! But, I had a hard time waiting because I am the woman who wants to know everything now...the whole picture and know what I had to do to get through it. However, wait I did because the cancer crew just envelopes you in their net and you simply get on their circuit that takes you from one meeting to another over and over. I could not see what this treatment would look like and in my mind, I wanted to see it and get it done. Scared? No....just ready for it to all be behind me.

I forgot one thing though...cancer is like grief, in that you have to actually go through it to come out on the other side. You go through each day and the day after. You just do.....and I made it! I still think of the whole experience; it was quite a journey, but I made it.

A Celebration of 40 years!

Today is the 40th anniversary of the day I married my high school sweetheart.  I feel blessed to have married someone who I love more today than ever.  When we were talking about it and saying how we would each do it over again, right down to the vows, my husband said that it has been a very real learning process.  It has been for both of us. No matter that we had some rocky times, we emerged each time loving each other more and our relationship that much richer. What is a secret for a long lasting marriage?  We both say that hanging on and not giving up on such a rewarding investment. Marriage is a commitment that has made us strong. We could not be celebrating our happiness if we had not had our shares of struggles too. We still have much to learn as we watch my husband's parents, who will celebrate 65 years in May. They, like us, are still crazy about each other. What wonderful role models they have been for us!