Rain . . .

“Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . ."  I was a young mother with beautiful children, a terrific husband and wonderful future. Then on a chilly spring day, I was diagnosed with cancer for the first time. Not just any old garden variety cancer either, malignant melanoma, a very deadly type of skin cancer was my diagnosis. I remember thinking, "'Why me?" and then almost immediately, "Well heck, why not me?"

Twice more, the big "C" came back to haunt me. A lot of prayer, two surgeries and a year of immunotherapy in a clinical study left me cancer free for the past 26 years but a few weeks ago, I got a call on my recent mammogram. Now, it's been my experience that nothing good comes of a doctor calling me. They don't call to chat me up. They call when they have something to tell me that I'm not going to want to hear!

Long story short, I was right. Turns out, I have what has been identified as papillary carcinoma. Only about 1 to 2 percent of women with breast cancer have this type. Am I lucky or what? I should buy a lottery ticket!

Seriously though, the good news is; this cancer is slow growing and rarely spreads beyond its margins. It is very treatable and recovery rates are about 98 percent. I am not afraid of facing down my nemesis. I've been there, done that and bought several tee shirts!  But now I'm told that, because of my personal history and my family history (that's another story for future posting), further genetic study is required before an appropriate treatment protocol can be recommended. So, I wait, and I don't let the myriad of issues consume me. I stay in the present and focus on the here and now.

We all go through rainy seasons in life but as a person of faith, I'm confident I will get through this. A wise man once said, "My faith does not rest in my interpretation of my circumstances. My faith rests in the character of God. (C.H. Yadon)"   

I'm looking forward to the rainbow . . . after the rain.





South of Twin Falls after the rain.



Welcome To My Blog!

For some time, I have wanted to write (or rant) about my observations on life, love and anything else that captures my attention. I did not want to be encumbered by limited characters like Twitter's 140 and I did not want to force my homilies onto unwilling readers by having them pop up in Facebook's news feed. So, voila! My tech savvy daughter introduced me to the blog-o-sphere!

Now, here I am with a blog. I know, I know; you might wonder, because I do, is anyone interested in reading my blog? Well, my children, by nature of our relationship, will be obligated to peruse it and I think my sister may read it. Beyond that, I'm not sure anyone else will give it the time of day. Still, something is moving me to express myself in a new way.

I'll do my poor best not to bore my readers (if I end up with any) and will endeavor to inspire or failing that, to entertain. At any rate, here I go. . .off on this new adventure! I hope you'll join me from time to time.