We’re happy and healthy and sharing occasionally at:

• The Something Of Our Ways (Mark and Andrea’s audio scrapbook)
• Get Frivolous (Andrea and her friend, Laurie, share and dare to be frivolous)

Wishing you all the best in 2013.

– Andrea, Mark, Lucy and Bayla

Bold Steps.

I was completely honoured to be selected to read a WeCanRebuildHer.com post at Blog Out Loud Ottawa, last night.

This reading followed an extremely low week for me and I had barely scraped myself together enough to attend the event, let alone participate.

I’m immensely grateful to the many friends and magical powers that got me through this week of self-inflicted torment.

And I’m grateful to Lynn and the BOLO gang for including me in this fabulous evening.

Wishing you health and happiness.
Andrea
xo

We’ve begun a fresh chapter: The Something Of Our Ways.

Hope to see you there…

That’s us, to the right. Two years ago today.
Moments after sharing the bad news with Luba.

So early in a surreal journey.

Behind that smile, a big part of me thought life was over. All of me hoped it was just beginning.

We headed to Quebec City that week. As planned.  I tossed and turned in the hotel bed, hoping I’d somehow fall asleep before Lucy, Bayla and Mark finished watching “The Corpse Bride”, “Beetlejuice”, “Edward Scissorhands” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.

I was awoken, one of those nights, by a ringing thought: This was the beginning of “The Spicy Me”.

Before this ordeal, my aim was to get through life. To make it to some far off end without losing any of the fabulousness I’d stumbled into. New territories and aspirations were reserved for Luba. As a matter of course.

Two years ago today, I opened my eyes.
I became alert. Aware. Present.
Grateful plus.

I started examining. And choosing. And imagining more.

The two years since then have brought trauma and mourning, recovery and joy. I’ve made friends. I’ve taken chances. I’ve explored new territories. I’ve become the Spicy Me.

I’d never choose cancer. I never want it again. For any one.

And I’m supremely grateful for the efflorescing goodness I’ve been treated to since that mind-boggling beginning. Two years ago today.

I’m aspiring to many, many more good years.
By the way.

• Why do so many women react so weirdly to my not-working choice? Spare me the horror and the defensiveness.
• How the heck does one perform a breast self-examination without visualizing and bracing for a lump?
• And, what’s with all the fakes and flakiness?

I’m off to soak up a slice of this gorgeous sunny day and kick this ridiculous cloud to the curb.

I’m not big on the actual event. Trick or treating. Candy. Dealing with the door.

But I adore the month-long preparations.

The colours. The crafts. The googly-eyed desserts.
The rhyming, creativity-packed picture books. The manic costume creation.

Two years ago today, as I prepared for those long-awaited test-results, we splurged on Hallowe’en. Filling our craft-store basket, despite the expense.

I thought it was my last Hallowe’en.

It wasn’t.

Lucky, lucky me.

And our hearts all broke.

Last week, Lucy and Bayla were honoured with the opportunity to help nurture Bernadette. A sweet tiny abandoned kitten. She too passed away.

Our heart break was worse yet.

Lucy and Bayla have had to grow up fast. They’ve heard more than their share of sad stories. And, thanks to our history, the sad ones hit hard.

Will they keep risking compassion?

I hope so.

Time to re-read Tuck…

“Everything’s a wheel, turning and turning, never stopping. The frogs is part of it, and the bugs, and the fish, and the wood thrush, too. And people. But never the same ones. Always coming in new, always growing and changing, and always moving on. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s the way it is.…”

“You can’t have living without dying. So you can’t call it living, what we got. We just are, we just be, like rocks beside the road.”
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

You donated $1130!

Thank you for the research you have made possible.
Thank you for the spirits you have raised.
Thank you for the families you have buoyed.
And thank you for all the little girls who may live without breast cancer’s shadow.

My sincere thanks to all of you for your generosity and your moral and financial support:

Amanda Kelman
Jenny Sinanan
Morrie Johnson
Mark and Maureen Blaseckie
Val Willis
Carolyn, David, Gillian and Jake Wright
Lee Edward Fodi
Laura Bergen
Janice Toews
Eden Spodek
Tracy Bialecki
Connie Crosby
Rich Cantrell
Greg & Andree O’Donnell
Betti and Rob Stiff
Bert and Rhoda Blevis
Wilf and Barb Clavette
Clare Rogers
Orit, Sean, Lilly, Elliot and Jo Moore
The Gupta/Gustyn Family
Eden Spodek

Be happy and be well.
Love,
Andrea
xo