Be the Change

Be the Change

What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

Today’s Prompt from The Daily Post at WordPress

Sherry over at In the Direction of Our Dreams left a comment on my Blogger version of this blog.  (I post concurrently on both Blogger and WP, having just recently begun exploring WP as an alternative to Blogger.)   Sherry, perhaps you could visit a drum circle now and then in your travels?  I have never attended a circle where there were not rhythm instruments and perhaps even a spare drum or two for visitors to use.   Yoga and Tai Chi are somewhat challenging in an RV, eh?  For several years in Brenham, I attended yoga class once or twice a week.  We were a like-spirited group, we had this awesome energy groove thing going and classes were often filled with laughter.  I miss “my people.”  About the journal, yes, the cover is distressed leather; hence, the comfy and welcoming feel of it.  I have drums and a bag of rhythm instruments; if you and I ever hook up on the road, we’ll get a groovy beat going!

Alrighty. 

What change would I like to make in the world with this blog?

• For even just one person walking the cancer path will realize and understand that they are not alone. 
• For even just one person to see by reading my ramblings about our lifestyle that they, too, can accomplish their dreams.

Yes, only the cancer patient will undergo treatment and possibly face their mortality.  No one can take your place in the surgical theater or the chemo chair.  No one will be thinking your thoughts of leaving this Earth.  Family and friends may have similar thoughts (and in fact will have their own struggles with your diagnosis), but those are not your thoughts.  It’s your body and your soul, not theirs.  Others can provide support and caregiving, but unless they have walked the path, they simply cannot truly comprehend the physical discomforts and emotional/spiritual processes which come with a diagnosis of cancer.

That being said, you are not alone.  Uncomfortable or unwilling to talk to your extended circle of family and friends?  Get thee to a support group. (Yeah, me too.  I sort of cringe at the term “support group.”)  There is probably one at your hospital or cancer center.  You don’t want to talk to strangers?

Let me tell you that from what I have experienced, survivors have an instinctive feeling of brother/sisterhood with other survivors.  It is sort of like we share this terrible yet beautiful knowingness about Life and Death. 

Who knows?  Perhaps what you have to say may instill hope in someone else walking the path. 

Long and short of it is that you are not alone. There are so many of us out here who “get it.”

Oh yeah, and the from the moment you hear the words, “You have cancer,” you are a Survivor.

About the accomplishment of dreams . . . living the full-time RV lifestyle was my dream starting in about 2003.  Single again, I had my life pretty much mapped out.  When the time came that I would no longer be responsible for the care of my elderly mother, I intended (oh look! another intention!) to sell my property in Texas, buy a dually truck and big 5th wheel and hit the road.  It’s in my genes, you see.

Well, Life joyfully happens and the Dream all but faded on the back burner until 2010.  Remarried in 2006 and having camped with pop-up and then bumper-pull trailers as a couple, the Dream came alive again in 2009.  We were resident managers of a self-storage facility.  Thinking it would be a good idea to have a home not dependent upon our employment, we traded our Tahoe for a big truck and our travel trailer for a big 5th wheel.  In 2010, realizing our line of work was increasingly stressful and essentially precluded a life outside of that work, we hit the road after agreeing to try the full-time life for a year.

Now 4.5 years later, we are still full-timers with no regrets.

The Dream is alive, well and flourishing.

Point to this story? 

Dreams may be born, simmer through a period of years in dormancy and undergo modification before fruition.  They can blossom with patience, belief in them, planning and visualization of the end result.  When the time is right, it can happen.  Don’t give up.  Keep the Dream alive!

“We never did the white man any harm; we don’t intend to . . . we are willing to be friends with the white man . . . “ 

-  Hotoakhihoois (Tall Bull), to General Winfield Scott Hancock, March 1867

January 3 – 365 Days of Walking the Red Road

Thanks for stopping by!

I am a Warrior.