What a Week!

It's been a week since I posted and just over a week since my mom went to the ER and was informed that she indeed shows evidence of cancer in her lungs. Nine days ago I had a hard time seeing the forest for the trees, while my mom used the news to strengthen her resolve and to challenge the cancer right back! My Mom has defied all of my pre-conceived notions about cancer and chemotherapy. She has shown the direct benefit of the power of choice as she has been undergoing treatment for her cancer. In the LDS faith, there is a central concept called "free agency" (which others who are reading are far more qualified to discuss than me the Buddhist!) but in a very basic sense it is the power, the privilege and the responsibility for each person to make their own choices in life. As a child I always thought of it as choosing right over wrong, but I think it can also apply to our attitudes in how we handle the bumps in the road called "Life." One can choose to see the negative, focus on it, feel bad about it (and rightfully so!), and let it bring them down. Or . . . one can choose to look out for and recognize, acknowledge and celebrate every little positive that presents itself and use these moments to take a devastating and scary experience and turn it into a "Great Experience."

As you have likely seen in her blog postings, photos and facebook posts, Mom is the poster child for choosing the right in terms of her personal battle with cancer. She has not only kept an amazingly positive attitude throughout all of this, she has made whole foods, excellent nutrition and exercise a part of her daily routine, and she is actively seeking out ways to not only help herself in this battle but ways to help others as well. She is an inspiration to me and everyone around her. In fact, it may appear that the dark and difficult side of this is hidden from view, or minimized to protect people from seeing the "other" side of her battle. And truth is, she has been completely transparent about her disease from day 1. She is just as awesome as everyone sees in the photos and blog posts. I pray that this continues because no one could ask for any more than this joie de vivre, this spunk, sass, and joy. I am one seriously proud daughter, and speaking on behalf of my siblings as well as her sister, brother, Mom, Dad and extended relatives, I know they are as well.

Keep praying. Keep meditating. Keep my Mom in your thoughts. She is putting up one helluva fight and she feels every last one of you in her corner!

~Candice