Life's Garden

Dear Blogger Family & Friends,

A warm, sunny welcome to one and all. It's safe to say that Spring has finally arrived after toying with us for the past several weeks. The Pink Crusader wishes you all a light, bright, glorious week and hopes you will go out and play in the garden of your choice.

"Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer."

-Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

This week we are pleased to have good friend and fellow survivor, Cheryl P. Donlin as our featured guest writer. Cheryl is a frequent contributor to The Pink Crusader, and it is always a pleasure to read her thought-provoking essays.

Cheryl writes:

For the last few weeks my head has been spinning. I’m intoxicated by the heady scents in the air and find myself moving to the rhythms of Mother Earth, as she tantalizes me with her elusive dance of spring. One day I’m sure winter is behind us, then the nights turn cool and the clouds move in again, prompting me to light just one more fire before the season is gone for good. A day later, warm breezes and sunshine renew the promise of regeneration and new life, and I can’t resist digging in the dirt and planting far too many things in my garden!

Trimming here, pulling a few weeds there, planting a seedling that in a few weeks will take over the whole bed, I find myself thinking about the metaphorical weeding I do in my life since breast cancer turned it upside down, two years ago. Derailed it. Changed it and me forever. After this alien thing, this cancer, got my full attention.

During treatment and recovery, with so many things out of my control, I began red-flagging the really important things, prioritizing aggressively so that I didn’t let precious time slip away from me, eaten up by trivia. In the beginning, I was ruthless, cutting out this activity, scratching off that commitment, replacing them with more meaningful things – constantly alert for time-wasters. Since then, of course, “normal” life has re-established itself, making its own priorities and carrying me along for the ride, thumbing its nose at those first harsh priorities I set.

That’s as it should be, because as time passes, I’ve become less viscerally afraid that the day I am in might be one of my last. I’m learning to accept that tomorrow still has meaning for me, even with no guarantees. So, like the weeds in my garden, the demands on my time have begun growing again. That’s only natural. The thing to keep in mind is that there are good weeds and bad weeds, as any gardener can attest. It’s all in your perspective; ask any moth or butterfly, looking for nectar and / or a home for its larvae. The important thing is to remain aware of how we spend our precious time, to take a moment now and then to reassess our routines and to gently “weed” our life gardens.

While remembering to preserve time for the weighty and important things, we also need to allow ourselves the freedom to “waste” a little time, just because there is such joy in those moments of abandon (as in abandoning the To-Do list!). For me, these are the life-affirming moments that recharge the soul and give me strength. That’s why I recently took half of a day off to pick strawberries with my husband and daughter, bringing home pounds and pounds of beautifully-ripe, red berries that I dedicated the whole next day to processing and freezing. On the face of it, not too important, but in retrospect, a joyful undertaking, preserved forever in my memory and temporarily in my freezer!

So, embrace the moment, kick off your shoes, go pick some flowers, or have lunch with a friend! The To-Do list will still be there when you get home.

PERSONAL NOTE: Special thanks to Cheryl for her beautiful essay and words of encouragement, fulfillment, promise and joy.

DAILY REMINDER:
"Fund Free Mammograms"
Go to The Breast Cancer Site at http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/tpc/EEB_0115_BCSm
and help fund free mammograms for the homeless, working-poor, and un-insured women. It costs nothing to you, except one daily click on the pink "Fund Free Mammograms" button. You can even request automatic reminders via e-mail. Please make your free click now, and thanks for your continuing support! The Breast Cancer Site, One Union Square, 600 University Street, Suite 1000, Seattle, WA 98101
Phone: 1-888-811-5271

UPCOMING EVENTS: Mark Your Calendars and Save the Dates!

Susan's Rally
Sunday, April 29
For info: 713-526-2747
www.susanrally.org

Rosebuds Meetings
Open to all Breast Cancer Patients/Survivors
1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month 5:45 - 7:30 p.m.
MAY 1 & 15 JUNE 5 & 19

The 2nd Annual Cancer Patient & Caregiver Conference
Friday, May 4, 2007. Registration:9:00am
Program begins at 9:30am-2:30pm.
Dr Michael Keating from MD Anderson will be the keynote speaker.
Location: United Way Building 50 Waugh Drive.
To Register: 713-520-9873 Contact Person: Elizabeth Wilson
www.cancercouseling.info

Relay For Life of Angelina County
American Cancer Society
May 4th & 5th, 2007
Lufkin Middle School

Relay For Life® is a fun-filled overnight event designed to bring together those who have been touched by cancer in our community. At the event, we celebrate survivorship and raise money to help the American Cancer Society in its mission to save lives, help those who have been touched by cancer, and empower individuals to fight back.
http://www.acsevents.org/angelina/positivepinkdynamite

Rosebuds II Meetings
(For those who have had or are at high risk
for recurrence and/or metastasis)
2nd and 4th Thursday of each month 5:45 - 7:30 p.m.
MAY 10 & 24 JUNE 14 & 28
www.RosebudsSupport.org

Walk to Empower
3-Mile walk, Sunday, May 13, 2007
MacGregor Park, Houston, Tx 9:00am
Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization
No Fee Register online at www.y-me.org

The Alice Thomsen Lymphedema Awareness Group of Houston
Meetings are scheduled on the 3rd Tuesday of every other month at the American cancer Society Building,6301 Richmond (between Hillcroft and Fountainview) at 7:00pm. The 2007 dates are May 15th, July 17th, September 18 and November 20th.
For further information call 281-546-6438.

CanCare Survivors Day Luncheon
Date: Thursday, May 31, 2007
For More Info: patwh@cancare.org
As most of you know our Survivors Day Luncheon will be held on Thursday, May 31 at the Intercontinental Hotel. Our luncheon event is a wonderful way to honor friends, family and employees who are cancer survivors and the medical communities who treat them. Our keynote speaker is Scott Hamilton, who is considered to be the world's most celebrated figure skater. In addition to being a role model and humanitarian, Mr. Hamilton is also a ten-year testicular cancer survivor.

2007 Komen Survivor Party
August 22, at The Houstonian
Details to be announced in future posts.

"The Faces behind Breast Cancer" Launch Party
Save the date, Sunday August 26, at 1:00 pm.
Details will be announced in future posts.

Living Fully
M.D. Anderson Annual Conference
September 6-8 2007
Marriott Westchase - Houston, Texas
Additional information is not available at this time.

Tour De Pink 2007
Pink Ribbons Project
September 9, 2007
at Prairie View A&M University
www.tourdepink.org
Additional info in future posts.

2007 Breast Health Summit
"SAVE THE DATE" for the 2007 Breast Health Summit to be held on October 18, 2007 at the United Way in Houston. Please pass this information on to others who may be interested. Additional information will be sent out later by both e-mail and postal mail. And of course, if your mailing address has changed, please be sure to forward the updated information to me. I look forward to seeing you in October!
Pat Dames
The Rose-
12700 North Featherwood
Houston, TX 77034
281-464-5150
Fax 281-484-7083
pdames@the-rose.org
www.the-rose.org

"Sharing is Caring"
As always, The Pink Crusader welcomes your comments, stories, poems, and events. Posts are updated every Sunday. Please send your written contributions to thepinkcrusader1@aol.com.

This concludes our weekly edition of the Pink Crusader. See you next week!

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." - Anne Bradstreet

Until next week, stay strong, stay well, and keep on dancing in the garden of life!

Love, Josie
The Pink Crusader
thepinkcrusader1@aol.com