Reality Check

My friend's wife, who is only 31, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She is writing a blog to keep people updated on her journey through surgeries, chemotherapy, and everything else that comes along with that diagnosis. I recommend you read it-- it is real, honest, and inspiring.

I personally have never been diagnosed with breast cancer. However, I did have a breast cancer scare a few years ago, which led all the way up to an excisional biopsy to remove breast tissue in order to see if there were any cancer cells present. This process (through all the tests, needle biopsies, surgeries, MRI's, etc) dragged on for over a year and was one of the scariest times in my life-- not knowing what was inside my body, whether I was going to be ok or not, whether I had deadly cells inside of me, if I was going to die.

Then, a few years later it got scarier. My mother was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer. She went through surgery and is now in remission. But at the time it was a storm of fear, sadness, panic, and despair in my heart. It made me stop dead in my tracks and look at my life and what it really meant. What she really meant to me. What a lot of people really meant to me. Namely, how important they are, and how I had forgotten that precious fact.

Also, I realized how un-precious so many things I had been giving my energy to were. The useless issues, dishes in the sink, the things that annoyed me-- like rush hour traffic-- I suddenly realized how unimportant they all were. The things I wasted so much thought on, and the things that riled me up, all of a sudden faded in the face of life, death, and love. It's people that matter, holding them close to you, forgiveness, and using our short time here to do things that really make a difference before we move on.

Thank you Jessica, for being an inspiration, and in that, reminding me to live for the important things.