The Right Moves

My friend “Shark” sent me this quote and it just seems to fit perfectly with my thoughts today.

"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing;
it demands a firm and watchful stance against any unexpected onset." -- Marcus Aurelius

It’s been a bit of a hard past week or so……If you’ve read my blog “My Journey”,  in Sept. of '08, it talks mostly about the places I’m on my way to visit…..the areas we venture to in our lives…. What it doesn’t’ speak of are the distractions along the way, something else that takes us off the main road. Not detours really as I’m still traveling the same old route, but more of a “rest stop”… Pausing to look at a beautiful tree or to meet a new acquaintance is one thing, but not all rest stops are pleasurable.

It seems there have been a lot of these not so pleasant stops lately…… most being loved ones affected by cancer. I am acquainted with a young mother who at age 34 was diagnosed with colon cancer. Evidence of new cancer cells was found in her liver during the last pet scan so she is undergoing her second round of chemo,  and last week was extremely hard on her.   Another friend who is a cancer survivor, was hit with some very scary new symptoms which brought them much worry and upset for awhile. His turned out ok, but he had to wrestle once again with the old fears that surfaced.   Another one who has been in remission for 3 years is suffering some very painful symptoms and is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow.   My prayers are with him.   And two others from the cancer website I belong to passed on, this was after a year where we lost 3 others in our group….. How dare cancer rob us of two more beautiful souls…… It seems to be everywhere you turn, and nearly every family you know is connected with it in some way, shape or form. I’m used to death. At my age one has seen a lot of it, and had to go through losing loved ones many times. And there are much worse things than death. Yet, you can never not be affected by it…..

My health problems that stopped me dead in my tracks at the last pull off from the main road, has been another big issue I’m trying so hard to get past, all the adjustments, changes in lifestyle, the steps I’m trying to take to insure that the rest of the journey goes smoothly, and all the new lessons I’ve learned, not to mention the challenges each of those incur, plus those ahead of me still.

Add in the latest break in the journey, that following a physical today, my hubby has a suspicious spot on his lip and is scheduled for a biopsy with the ENT on the 24th. He assured us that “cancer’s like this” can be easily removed with no problems and they usually never return or cause further problems, so not to worry…… yes I hear that, am I worried anyway? Yes……. even though I know in my heart he will be fine. This wonderful, strong, kind man I married almost 48 years ago will be fine……….My God wouldn’t allow it to be any other way…… How long will it take us to get back on the road after this one?  Can this opponent be pinned easily?

The weather station is telling us there is another winter storm on the way……wind and snow tonight…… Should I hold up for awhile before starting on down the road or keep going?….. My thoughts return to a friend who has reminded me many times, “ forward…..always forward".

I guess we’ll just forge on…… The vines are thick in this area,, we have a lot of supplies on hand in the form of medical support and many other resources in case we need to use them……

Be assured that “tarzan” is taking a stance…….quite prepared to wrestle if necessary, but in the meantime, I’m still going to stop and dance every chance I get……  it's all in the moves you make, right?    I'll keep ya posted.........