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Posts tagged ‘courage’

Jun 4

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Brown Bear, Black Bear

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. – Winston Churchill

Frailty, thy name is cancer.

One moment, an oracle, another, a despot; it’s wedged its way in the crevice of each day – lurking, threatening to erupt if I give it too much attention.

Or too little.

Six months ago, I burst out of the oncologist’s office with an uncontainable laugh. I’d just found out the philadelphia (ie. leukemia) gene was at the lowest it had ever been. When David pointed this out to my doctor, he acknowledged with a smile that yes, you are doing very well, and several other words that I somehow understood to mean I was past the goal line and I was out of danger and this was as close to remission as CML gets.

I don’t know what I was thinking.

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Aug 31

Don’t Just ‘Stand By Yur Man,’ but Join Him: Abigail Adams

Do any of you have a favorite year in elementary school? Mine was Grade 4.

I loved my teacher. I loved the projects. I remember them with startling clarity: the ‘Fort Langley’ replica we built in our classroom (the one where I got too bossy and the other girls told the teacher to tell me to back off), the popsicle-stick buildings we designed with paper mache hills and lakes, the poster projects about our favorite animal and sea creature (I picked Koala Bears and Jellyfish).

And my favorite: the book review about a famous person in history. The girls read about women; the boys read about men.

I read this book about Abigail Adams.

You know that song, ‘Raise Your Glass’? There’s this one line that I love: ‘if you’re too school for cool…’

Ah, yes, that’s me.

I think I also asked for homework in Grade 4. You know, because I thought it was cool.

Don’t worry, I’m cringing too. And, smacking my forehead. Oh, what was I thinking?

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Jul 13

Why I am Grateful for Demi Moore: CNN’s 2010 Woman of the Year, Anuradha Koirala

You know when people compare something to a trainwreck, meaning that they know they should look away but just can’t? Reading David Batstone’s Not For Sale is like a reverse trainwreck; you want to stop reading because its just so awful, what’s happening to these real, live, human beings, all over the world, but you know you shouldn’t. Every page that Read more

Jul 10

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Why The World Needs Strong Women, and Why Kate Hudson Would Have Made Me Jealous Six Years Ago

As many of you have heard, both Kate Hudson and Victoria Beckham welcomed babies this morning – a boy and a girl, respectively. I offer them both my congratulations and my condolences. Babies are always good news, hence congratulations, but I can not imagine what it would be like to have your baby’s arrival be announced to the whole world, hence, my condolences. Anyhow, that’s for another post, something like Why I’m Grateful that I’m Not a Celebrity, or 10,001 Reasons to Stay As Obscure As Possible. But the news Read more

Jun 28

What Lies Around the Bend, for ‘What Lies Around the Bend;’ Aka. The Renovation of This Blog

Some of you will have noticed that “What Lies Around the Bend,” is not what it used to be, which was, an attempt to communicate concisely with our close-but-physically-far-away-friends about my health situation, to inform them how things were going and how they could support/think good thoughts/pray for us. We still need that support/good thoughts/prayers, very much, but it seems that the past 2 1/2 years have brought so much growth to myself and our family that we’d like also to be able to share the wealth of that freedom, and hope, with you. And by you, I mean Read more

Jun 16

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What Cancer – or the Canucks – Has (Have) Taught Me, Part 357: Be the Change You Wish In Others

I know what you’re thinking (aren’t I always so perceptive?). Right now you either want to 1)not read this, or 2)run to the comments section – or my facebook profile – to tell me how evil the Canucks – or their city – are, and how dare I even suggest that this tragedy actually taught me something immensely positive this week…. but hear me out first, please. I don’t want to get my tear gas out. Word on the street is that the entire province is out of stock.

Ok, that was gong-worthy. But I had to try to lighten up one of the darkest days I’ve remembered in this part of the world. Read more

Aug 4

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Embracing the Unresolved

I wish I had news for you all. I don’t. I have no idea how things are going except that my blood work is “good.” We won’t know for a few months if Sprycel is doing any more than Gleevec did. And the waiting, oh the waiting. It’s hard. I’ve often wished for patience, but I tend not to have the strength to wade through the things that will make me patient.

David and I are in the middle of a Fringe-a-thon, thanks to our growing addiction to all things written or created by J.J. Abrams (yes, this guy actually made me enjoy a Star Trek movie). And last night, I don’t really remember what the episode was about but I do remember Olivia saying to Peter, “haven’t you ever lived with something unresolved and wished there was something you could do about it?” And he rolls his eyes and says, “congratulations, you’ve just described the entire planet.” Read more

Jul 5

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Welcome to July 5th

As we drove up I-5 yesterday and observed the stunning fireworks by everyone who set them off near the freeway, I was thinking about this day eight years ago when I said to David at our rehearsal dinner, “hey – happy independence day,”and he laughed, saying, “yup, its my last one.” You’ll have to ask him if he thinks that marriage has made him sacrifice too much of his independence, as he joked about back then, but as I remembered this, I couldn’t help wondering if yesterday was my last independence day too, in a way, since Read more