My Other Life

Still Life with a Curtain / Paul Cezanne, 1895

Earlier this month Marie posed an invitation to her readers to discuss their "other" or real lives. At the time I posted something to the effect of "it's all there." I said this totally without irony or sarcasm.

That's how deeply I feel about writing. Every time I put together a post, or an article, I am all there. What I think, what I value, the words I choose, the topics that matter to me. That's truly who I am, before cancer, after cancer, during cancer, without cancer.  That's my voice. Cancer's run a parallel path throughout my life, which I wrote about in some detail in other essays and discussed on the SIRIUS XM program, "Dr. Radio" with NY Langonne Medical Center oncologists Abe Chachoua ("Dr. Handsome") and Silvia Fomenti. The fact is I can no longer separate cancer as a distinct entity any more than I could write about life and leave out my husband, my sister, or my friends.

Through Twitter and Facebook -- you all know I cycle, that I adore my dog, that I'm a Stephen Minister and a lot of other things. A good afternoon is one in a museum, or hiking, or cycling in a competent pack on a cool, crisp day. Nothing better. I quilt when I have time, but I haven't had time for awhile now. I'm an occasional cook (and a good one) who lives in Texas and complains relentlessly about the heat. Second to writing is reading, and I love to travel. Both stir the mind and stirring things up is good for the soul. It's how I hang.

A deeper thread to the story is right here, my husband Steve's cancer story. This was written before his most recent recurrence, a process that involved extensive plastic surgery that kept a "flap" of skin in place securing his ear to his neck for some three months. He says my cancer made his seem like the flu and I say his made mine seem like a walk in the park. What I can tell you is this: his stitches were removed early in June and two weeks later he competed in the Senior Olympics here in Houston. That's cool.

 

So now I see I have started my entry about why I won't write about my other life. When I write you, this IS my life:)  All I can say if make sure it's about love.  That's why we're here.

Jody