No shit, right?
It doesn’t matter which kind, what stage or prognosis, what body parts are involved – anything with the word “cancer” in it is just fucked up.
Why do I feel this way today? Because I learned Saturday that a sweet woman that I met a few weeks ago at the beginning of the Team In Training (TNT) season, with whom I run/walk during Saturday sessions, was just diagnosed this past week with thyroid cancer, and will undergo surgery on Wednesday. Her family has no history or experience with cancer. She was well into the wonderful world of TNT, bringing her warmth and charming spirit to session each week. She is dynamic, quick to smile and laugh, and another one of those souls that one feels an instant connection with.
Her doctor says her type of cancer is very treatable – hopefully, surgery will be all that’s needed – and her prognosis is good. But I feel terrible for her, being suddenly hurled over into THIS side of Cancerland. Just a short time ago, she was on the OTHER side of Cancerland, raising money to fight and cure blood cancers, training during mid-week workouts and running her ass off with us on Saturdays – and doing it all for other people. It’s an awful thing when anyone is diagnosed with cancer. But it’s utterly and sardonically unfair that someone who’s been giving herself for others is now one of them.
Yes, there’s dis-ease in the world. Yes, bad things happen to good people. But, there’s ALWAYS good in the bad, right? Time to turn this bus around…..
Caterpillars and butterflies.
Wait. What?
Yes, caterpillars and butterflies.
Bonus daughter Catlin was recently gifted with
monarch butterfly cocoons and a pot of milkweed, their habitat of choice (big
thanks to Judy and Patty!), and we have been watching enthralled as the cocoons
change from a gorgeous sea-glass green with gold accents, to little tight transparent glass
houses, to butterflies careening about the backyard.
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| How does Nature manage to be so PERFECT? (Photographer: Catlin Gossard) |
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| Eventually, a magical glimpse inside the cocoon. (Photographer: Catlin Gossard) |
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| Welcome to the world! (Photographer: Catlin Gossard) |
Butterflies have long been symbolic of struggle, tenacity,
rebirth, and freedom. Anyone fortunate
to watch the transformation has undoubtedly reflected on the parallels in their
own life. Who hasn’t endured an uphill
battle and clutched tightly to a stem of reality, or found themselves protectively
cocooned within the love and care of family and friends? With time and patience, the soul unfolds and
stretches and ventures into the world as a transformed spirit. The past has passed and one is re-born into a
vivid, more brilliant self.
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| The very embodiment of brilliance. |
Sp here’s to my TNT teammate and her upcoming journey from
cancer-pillar to butterfly. A diagnosis
of thyroid cancer just sucks. But going
into it with your abundance of strength and positivity, it’s certain that you’ll
emerge on the other side of this adventure healthier, stronger, and even more
vibrant.
