This weekend we're going to a birthday party of a friend who has Stage IV lung cancer. She has responded well to treatment and been given several more years of life as a result, and she wants to celebrate the end of treatment and reaching this birthday. She knows there will be only two or three more. I'm so amazed by her transparency. A friend and I bumped into her a few months ago at a charity auction and she shook her head and said, "I don't know why I'm buying this stuff. I'm dying, yet here I am with a carload of goodies". We replied we didn't need anything in our baskets either, but I was stunned that she was so frank and cheerful. We laughed together, then she was on her way, meeting a friend in another area.
Courage and facing fear are all around us, but I'm so touched each time I witness it. We will all be joyous that she is here, now, and hopefully for more birthdays. And her prognosis doesn't lessen the joy, it makes it more poignant and heart felt.
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