With cancer in the rear view, it’s time to move on from CaringBridge
and introduce you to my new blog.
I'm calling it WRITE ON because that's what I did throughout my up-and-down-and-up-again experience with cancer.
To which I say: RIGHT ON!
You feel me?
If you followed me on CaringBridge, you know I started blogging about The Big C for purely pragmatic reasons.
Back when my diagnosis was breaking news, I didn’t want to begin every conversation with every person I ran into with an update about cancer. So I started sharing my story on CaringBridge.
The more I wrote, the more I realized that the act of writing was becoming therapeutic for me. It helped me edit out the things I didn’t need to worry about. Somehow, sharing the highs and lows, the many decisions I had to make, the moments of humor that helped me laugh through the horror of it all — all of that helped me wrap my head around everything that was happening.
The first time someone thanked me for sharing my story so candidly, I thought, “What the heck?! Thank YOU for reading it so I don’t have to explain it for the 147th time.”
As I kept writing, readers kept finding new ways to make me feel like I was doing them the favor.
What?!
Sometimes, even through a smile, I cringed when folks called me courageous or inspiring when all I was doing was trying to make it through one day after another without imploding into a convulsing fountain of tears in front of my kids.
(For the record, I did just that more times than I can recall.)
Not long after my diagnosis, during the excruciating waiting game(s) that followed test after test as my doctors tried to figure out just how many tumors I had and where, I called cancer "an evil son-of-a-bitch that does not and never will define me."
My attitude has softened since then. I'm not bitter anymore.
Cancer happened. It is and always will be part of my life story. I used to picture it as a dark cloud that would follow me around forever. I don't see it that way anymore.
It's just there. And I'm here — grateful I made it through the toughest experience of my life, feeling strong, happy and ready for the challenges I'll face in the years to come.
I've learned a lot about myself in the last year, a lot about grit and gratitude and lots of things that I'll write about in WRITE ON.
I'll still write about cancer (you'll see I've migrated all my CaringBridge posts over here), but this is not "a cancer blog." I'll also write about podcasts and books that inspire me. Funny and memorable conversations I have with people. Things I learn from my kids when they test my patience and/or help me better understand what it takes to be a gritty, grateful parent.
So ... here goes. A new blog for the new chapter(s) that lie ahead.