Heavy Heart

Today I learned that a former colleague, one of the lucky ones who got to retire as a young, vibrant 52 year old, with plans for a full and fun adult life enjoying her garden, her husband, her friends and her life, has breast cancer. Her cancer was aggressive and a mastectomy followed by chemo and radiation is her course of treatment. Less than an hour later, a dear friend called, sobbing. She found a lump in her breast and her doctor hadn't returned her call. This dear woman has a family history of breast cancer and has lived most of her life looking over her shoulder, certain that she would be its next victim.

I hate cancer! I loathe the way it leaves nothing but fear, sadness, and uncertainty in its wake. It is cruel and unsettling.

Today I have been made weary by the emotional weight of such a mean and unpredictable disease.