One of the days I was out I saw a woman wearing a beanie who clearly had no hair. She was walking vigorously with two other people. I saw that she also had no eyebrows. I remembered that a year ago now I had no hair and no eyebrows. Unfortunately unlike this woman, I was not able to walk at the beach. I had no energy or ability to shake off the feelings of nausea and dizziness that overwhelmed me at the time. It amazes me that an entire year has passed. I made it through that difficult time but am finding it hard sometimes to handle the losses I have had in the past few months, such as my friend Ann.
Next week I have another one of my quarterly checkups. I am not quite a year free of cancer and in the back of my mind I worry about its return. I make inappropriate jokes about it which make my friends cringe. Perhaps because of my talking with Ann about her dying for the past three years, I am more comfortable talking about death than my contemporaries. Death happens, my friends, to people our age. We need to be able to talk about it and even joke about it. At least I do.
One of the great things about being out walking at the beach is seeing one of my neighbor's creative use of lawn statuary. Here are three different settings for these stone(d) birds:
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| St Patty's Day 2010 |
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| Thanksgiving 2010 |
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| Opening Day Dodgers March 2011 "Buy me some peanuts and quacker-jacks" |
2 comments:
Maggie,
Love that you are back to walking the beach. I don't do it enough but the ocean is a force unto itself that calms me like nothing else. I'm thinking positive thoughts (my version of prayer) for the coming anniversary. I, for one, want and expect more of your wit and wisdom in the coming years.
KT
Maggie,
You are an inspiration to many people with your outlook on life and your great sense of humor in the face of adversity!
Perhaps your blog should reach out to a larger audience so that more people can see it. Lots of people out there can use a pick me up!
We love you!
Your east coast family fan club!
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