refections from the pool of pain - a note to a friend

today i was blog reading and was reading a blog post of a friend who is a 6 year cancer survivor. she shared many things with us, but most importantly, she shared what she has learned through the process. I am not a cancer survivor, but a survivor of what i like to refer to as "a life altering experience", so i could relate.

I wanted to leave her a little comment on her blog in response and before you know it, i had written a little essay. I have to say, it was so heartfully written (is that a real word?) that i decided to share what i wrote with you. for all of you that has had to overcome pain and obstacles, this is for you as well.

There are some of us that cross the road during times of devastation. We looked both ways and we walked across. We have to handle a lot, maintain a sense of self, be brave, handle fear and more. Where is that road crossing? it crossed over into a different realm of this life, where we now view the world from a survivor's perspective. We shrug off trivialities (in the form of drama, gossip, meanness, etc). We know to appreciate the little things. We are observant to others pain and quick to observe who needs a little encouragement. Very importantly, we are too aware of the fragility of our existence. We've made a conscience decision to surrender any sort of control over this random blur of time, we call life. When we make it to the other side of the road, we have gained much wisdom. It's like passing a test - there are only a few who have achieved such a high grade. A+ to you my friend,

cheers,
kecia

do you ever feel like this?

i absolutley ADORE this picture. it was forwarded to me by my mom who got it from a friend and so on and so on. what i love most about this photo is the dogs face - in particular, his eyes. his eyes are saying, "ugh - i hate this. sharing sucks". i showed this picture to jane and her daughter, claudia, this weekend - and i said, "there's some life lessons to be learned from this photo". i feel the doggie is doing what he feels is the right thing to do - sharing his food; even though he really doesn't want to. sometimes we do things because we know it is the right thing to do, but inside, secretly, we don't really want to do it. but that's okay, don't you think? that is what makes us kind and gentle. putting others before ourselves - and in the end though, it usually ends up in our favor. (i think they call that, karma).