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Q:where?
A: For me: still the same room. For Lucy: upstairs
Q:what?
A: my own bedroom!!!!!!
Q:when?
A:now:-)!!!!!!
Lucy and I have always been begging and pleading for our own rooms. Well, now we’ve got them!!!
We’ve got this AWESOME plan BUT (and as you can see it is a big bold but) I can’t tell them to mom and dad so I better not write them on the blog because mom and dad read the blog.
Lucy is turning eleven and craves her own bedroom.
Long gone is my era of sewing for hours each day.
The result is our family’s summer project: transforming my personal haven into Lucy’s own room.
Digging through my much loved creative space, tightly packed with hastily stashed pockets of my personal, family and professional history, has drenched me with memories. And with tears.
Artwork, receipts, cards, letters and scrawls. Job offers, lab notes, smiling babies I barely recall. Relics from my roaring twenties. Glimpses of eleven years of juggling parenting, career, creativity and me.
Loads of it purged.
I’m thrilled for Lucy. She’ll love her new room.
I just need to remember that this personal archeology is not about wrapping up me.
It’s about eliminating clutter. Clearing out cobwebs. Letting go. And celebrating the beautiful young ladies our girls are becoming.
It’s about life. And there’s lots more to come.
Just a few days ago, dad taught us how to play euchre and we’re having a blast playing family games in the evenings. We’ve played Rat-a-tat-cat, Ruckus,Life and many more great games! We’re having a great summer! Bayla and I are getting along very well. We went to a family reunion in Kingston on Sunday and we had a great time! So far I give our summer five stars!
Last week, I invited you to join me in my effort to raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation by sponsoring me here.
In the 8 days since, you’ve raised over $2000!
Huge, huge thank yous to:
| Barbara Reid-Crysler Geoffrey Butler Bert and Rhoda Blevis Armeda Vanderwoude Wilf and Barb Clavette Clare Rogers Denise Doyen Garry and Kathi Tysick Stephanie Calmenson and Mark Goldman Carol Heyer Diane Greenseid Cathy Arneson Nancy Pevey Lane Smith and Molly Leach William Flanagan Orit Fruchtman Diane DeGroat Sally Ito Hugh Brewster Paul Zelinsky Tania Carriere & Gerry Gaetz Marla Frazee |
The Sinanan Family Carol Grannick Coreen Corcoran Rich Cantrell Patricia Kahn Sriram Venkatarman Stacey MacNevin Ebony Haywood Joan Buzick Tanglewood Books Mary Antolovich Jay Schmidt Daniele Rossi The Bonsall/Small Family Joanne Lennon Greg & Andree O’Donnell Betti Stiff Cher & Mo Willems The Giassa/Whammond Family Whitney and John Hoffman |
You rock!!
What generosity will the remaining 68 days of sponsorship bring?
Reconnecting.
Sharing this journey online has rewarded me with opportunities to connect with friends and relatives from the distant past.
Living this journey has rewarded me with the courage to face old fears, step beyond the comfort of keystrokes and into real-time, face-to-face encounters.
My life is so much richer as a result.
And it’s getting easier.
Lucky me.
Earlier this week, I invited you to join me in my effort to raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation by sponsoring me here.
In the four days since, you’ve raised over one thousand dollars!
Huge, huge thank yous to:
The Sinanan Family
Carol Grannick
Coreen Corcoran
Rich Cantrell
Patricia Kahn
Sriram Venkatarman
Stacey MacNevin
Ebony Haywood
Joan Buzick
Tanglewood Books
Mary Antolovich
Jay Schmidt
Daniele Rossi
The Bonsall/Small Family
Joanne Lennon
Greg & Andree O’Donnell
Betti Stiff
Cher & Mo Willems
The Giassa/Whammond Family
Whitney and John Hoffman
You rock!!
What generosity will the remaining 73 days of sponsorship bring?
On October 6, 2009, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
On October 3, 2010, I will run for the cure.
You can join me in this effort to raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation by sponsoring me here.
Many thanks,
Andrea
Happy Birthday, My Sweet Bayla!
And many, many happy returns.
Love,
Mom
||:xoxoxo:||
Being Me.
It’s a month, today, since my final radiation treatment.
In these four glorious weeks, I’ve been living it up and lollygagging with good friends and good family.
I’ve grown some eyelashes and some hair.
I’ve stepped up to the scariness of public speaking.
I’ve coasted obliviously through a significant earthquake.
I’ve enjoyed schedule-free summer days with Lucy and Bayla.
I’m now two weeks into my five years of hormone therapy and — touch wood — its been blissfully imperceptible.
My white blood count is still low (I had a good cry over that news this morning). And various muscles and joints are still struggling with the effects of chemo.
But I feel like myself again — only better, stronger and happier. Really.
I am the rebuilt me.
And, with every thought and every choice, I’m working to stay that way.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
PAB2010 was an unforgettable weekend.
Thought-provoking sessions, amazing food and, most importantly, passionate, intelligent, interesting, friendly, fabulous people.
If you’re creative, online or off, you’ll want to catch the full schedule of sessions as they are rolled out at PABconf.com.
In the meantime, I can’t help sharing Sylvain Grand’maison‘s 5-minute Jolt, below.
Cancer crashed and auto-rebooted my life. Wiping out my routines, habits and friendships and leaving me with a fresh, if physically diminished, slate.
And the opportunity to start anew.
As Sylvain suggests, below, we can reboot our lives any time.
And we’re better off for it.
| It was October 7th, 2009.
Mark and I stood waiting for an elevator at the Women’s Breast Health Centre. We’d just left our first post-diagnosis appointment. “Nine months of treatment, Mark. It’s a pregnancy,” I ventured hopefully. And thus began my Me-ternity. |
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| Yesterday marked the end of that nine months.
The good news is, I didn’t even notice. |
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| Happy, happy day. |  |
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Related Posts:
Mark
Andrea
Lucy* (
Bayla* (*Luba = Lucy and Bayla
