Cancer Confronters

I had lunch with a couple of cancer survivors today. I used to hate the term, especially since it didn't seem like my situation really counted. We talked about our dear friend Amy, who died last year. We talked about lots of other things, for almost 3 hours. I think we should be called cancer confronters. It is not like the disease is some sort of evil that invades our bodies. It is part of our story, the part that causes us to stop and reevaluate basically every part of our lives. It is the part that forces us to look at our life and see how it measures up to where we wanted it to be. It gives us permission to change it. We go through the physical transformation that surgery and chemotherapy bring. We confront our mortality, our fear, our weakness. We build bridges. We climb mountains. We live in the land of what was and what is and what might be. We confront ourselves and our lives and come out stronger. We have a vision for our future, a vision for our relationships, our finances. We take care of ourselves, cherishing our bodies so that each day we are given we can use wisely. Know this, we all have to confront our destiny. It has a name. Ours is cancer. But it is not a fearsome thing, it is a door to a new and better life.