Anniversaries can be a wonderful thing. A day to celebrate a special event with those important in our lives.
The Cloak of Invisibility sounds like a wonderful thing. The ability to walk around, undetected.
This time of year is when I celebrate an important anniversary, my cancerversary, March 30, 2004. It’s been 19 years since I was given 3 days to make memories with my family and get my affairs in order. Every year, as this date approaches, it casts a spell over me. Some years it’s been overwhelming gratitude. Some years it’s been overwhelming excitement. Some years it’s been overwhelming grief.
This year…
This year I’ve spent more time in doctor’s offices than I have in a long time. More specialists, more diagnosis’, more tests, more medical opinions. It’s been exhausting.
This year the grief has been stronger. Grief missing my Dad. Grief missing friends who have passed away from cancer. Grief missing a healthy life.
I’ve kept much of this year in silence. My Core Four knows all. My close friends know some. I’ve tried to walk in my normal life, acting as normally as I can… If I ever made plans I ended up canceling them, so I stopped making them. I had slipped on my very own Cloak of Invisibility and prayed to be able to walk around undetected.
HOWEVER
My Core Four always made sure I was taken care of. They saw me. They heard me. My close friends saw me. So, even under that Cloak I was able to feel love, laughter, hope and faith because people chose to see me, and I cannot thank them enough.
This year…
This year I have experienced highs and lows. I have felt invisible, but never truly was. So, when My Core Four celebrates my cancerversary on March 30, 2023, and we give thanks for these 19 bonus years that I have been given, I will choose hope. I will promise to see people in my life and remind them, when they put on their own Cloak, that they are loved… seen.
Happy 19 bonus years. Bring on year 20!
The Time that is Given 