Breast Cancer Awareness

I dont' know a lot of people, or at least I don't think I do, who have been directly affected by breast cancer.  There was a sorority sister from college who lost her mother to it during college, which was very sad although I did not appreciate the enormity of her loss at the time, due to my own security in my mother being alive.  And another dear friend whose mother succumbed, long before I knew her.   And I have a friend who can proclaim she is a survivor, though I haven't seen her shouting it from the rooftops so perhaps for her it is a private victory, the details of which she chooses not to share - and that is perfectly within her rights.  A struggle like that - I cannot even imagine.   If I were to beat cancer I believe at that point I would do whatever the hell I wanted all the time.   Such a brush with my own mortality would be more than enough to convince me that my time was MY OWN and screw everyone else and what they think.   So many of us are so prone to worrying about what others will think of the way we live our lives - we don't even realize we're doing it perhaps until the end of our life flashes before our eyes.  I imagine a great reminder of our capacity to make choices to suit ourselves would be terminal illness, specifically beating a terminal illness. 

Anyway, for me, that's all that I know of, though I am sure there are many more who suffer with either their own struggle or their memories of those dearly departed in silence.   So today I am thinking of my dear friend who has beat this illness because she, and her family, are an inspiration to me.   Never did I see her begrudge her situation; never did I hear her angrily defile the power that put this afflication upon her.   Her family stood up and cared for her, and loved her, so much during her struggle.   Their story inspires me to appreciate my life and the love I have in my family.  The love I feel for my husband and our parents and siblings, and their children.  The love I have for our friends and their children.  All of us are at the mercy of our surroundings and our respective gods or, if we don't believe in God, our bodies.  Appreciating the love we have for eachother, appreicating the time we have together, is all we have.  The best way to combat our own mortality is to steadfastly hang on to the memories we make together and ensure that our love lives on, whether it be in pictures, in growing families, in our writings and letters.  These are the things that will live on forever, and we must remember every day to appreciate the time we have together and to throw our full selves into loving one another - afflictions and all. 

Our survivors, and those we have lost to illness, are proof that our memories live on and our love can make a difference in the world.   Take a moment to remember those you have lost, and those who have survived, and what it would mean if your life was not enriched with the memories you have with them.    Then tell them you love them.