Seasons of Love

Tonight I listened to one of my favourite songs.  I like to listen to then and think about how blessed I am.  It puts me in a good mood.  It comes from the musical RENT.

To listen at the same time:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxeWdCJV16E


Seasons Of Love by Rent Cast
ALL
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

How about love?
How about love?
How about love? Measure in love

Seasons of love. Seasons of love

JOANNE
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes!
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Journeys to plan.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure the life
Of a woman or a man?

COLLINS
In truths that she learned,
Or in times that he cried.
In bridges he burned,
Or the way that she died.

ALL
It's time now to sing out,
Tho' the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends
Remember the love!
Remember the love!
Seasons of love!

JOANNE(while ALL sing)
Oh you got to got to
Remember the love!
You know that love is a gift from up above
Share love, give love spread love
Measure measure your life in love

.

Success

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.

Norman Vincent Peale

 

(Daily affirmations are fabulous!)

Making a Difference

I just looked at the stats of this blog and have found that it has been looked at over 11,000 times.  Whilst this has helped tremendously in keeping all my friends and family up to date on my progress, it has been a greater good than that for me...it has raised awareness to others beyond my TeamLaurice support and those friends and family that are further away.  Others have used it to communicate the cancer subject to others who are dealing with it as well, friends who are trying to support cancer patients/survivors, etc.  This brings yet another shining light at this challenging time.

I ran into someone the other day who I don't know very well (at work).  She had commented on one of my recent blogs and how it had made a difference to her and someone she was supporting.  So thank all of you for helping spread the awareness.

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.

Aristotle Onassis

What's next?

This is a common question I get asked.  It's an interesting one to try to answer.  The short and quick answer is "to live life".  The more exploratory answer is to work on getting a less stressful life style going ...and then to really understand what that may mean and look like?  It means a healthy lifestyle with good things to eat and drink.  It means getting some exercise.  But it also means understanding myself a bit more when looking at balancing everything...on a daily basis. 

Also, I have opted to do a double mastectomy in the coming month.  This may seem like a hard decision to make but for the most part it hasn't been.  It's pretty simple - I don't want to ever go through this again so how do I mitigate the risk?  One way is to get rid of where the cancer cells would most likely attack - the remaining breast. 

But all is good on this end.  I feel good.  I work hard every day at growing my hair!  And I look forward to the day ahead. 

Life is good!

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.
Willie Nelson

How life changes in a day

I got an email from a long time friend of mine, Yoko, over the weekend.  I followed up with a phone call and chatted with her and her partner Otto at length yesterday.  I have come to find out that she too was diagnosed with cancer just around the same time I was.  She was feeling fine at the time but a friend pointed out that she wasn't walking straight and took her straight to hospital.  She was currently working in Santiago which has very good health care facilities.  When in hospital she came to find out that had Glioblastoma Multiforme... Stage IV (tumor in the brain about the size of a golf ball).  She has since been through surgery, radiation and chemotherapy and is now going onto experimental drugs.

We talked for a long time about the importance of being positive through this challenge.  She also has been running two hours a day and eating very healthy (which is the way she's always lived her life).  When talking with her partner he said that she continues to always be upbeat and tell you that she feels great.

Thank you Yoko for being a positive spark in my weekend and for having the courage to share you story and motivation for living a long life ahead.

Team Laurice visitor from OS

Thanks Gavin for coming to come and check in on me!  It was great to see you and be able to catch up ...and give you re-assurance I'm doing well...and get great Team Laurice support!!!!!

I am so blessed!