Anticipation

Posted in Bumpboobs, Life, Life despite cancer, Radiotherapy Treatment, Treatment by

All I really want to do is look at beautiful things (like spring) and talk with wonderful people. I’d also love to go to Lake Balaton and have a wine spritzer by the water, while the sun sets across the water. And I’d like if there was a ‘forget this all’ pill that I could take for a few days.

Truth is, it would be easier if I could leave my emotions and thoughts behind, and just do what I really want to do. With all that is going on, the emotions don’t make this easy, so instead as I feel frustrated and sad, I daydream of things I’d like to do.

So let’s see…

I’d like to smile more for my husband, so he feels like everything is alright. 🙂

I’d like to sleep really, really well. Sleep like someone who is on vacation and feeling so safe.

I’d like to look in the mirror and see myself clearly.

I’d like to dance all night, outside, with friends and some great candle light. No mosquitoes!

I’d like to listen to Cat Stevens and Eric Clapton, which I’m actually doing – so there’s one realized!

I’d like to go shopping for summer dresses.

I’d like to have energy! That will come. Not for a while, yet.

I’d like to eat something deeply delicious.

I’d like a gluten-free grilled cheese sandwich from The Red Door (in Ottawa). To be done.

I’d like a non-dramatic, yet highly fun kids book to read.

I’d like to make something cool.

I’d like to pet a dog to which I’m not allergic. And give it a big hug. And then it can take a nap with me 🙂

I’d like to go to the Farmer’s Market and pick out beautiful food – and I’d like to bike there and back, too!

I’d like to do very little, and yet still accomplish something wonderful.

I’d like to learn how to paint with oil. (And I guess, l learn how to paint at all!)

I’d like to play the piano. Christmas music, specifically.

I’d like to sail on the Queen Mary.

I’d like to go for a picnic in the common.

I’d like to sing. (Which I do, but you know, it should be done more)

I’d like to sit in a kayak and marvel at the water.

I’d like to realize that I feel 100% myself again. I love those vivid moments of self that sneak up on you; when suddenly you are at your shining best, doing what you love, feeling in that ‘impossible to perfectly arrange but wonderful to realize’ way.

Ever feel that way – when you’re just living life and suddenly everything is so very right? Maybe it’s in the garden . . . or walking to the shop . . . or the touch of a warm breeze on a gorgeous day . . . or the way a dress brushes against your legs . . . or the first taste of a cool drink . . . or the sight of someone special walking towards you . . . and you know you are 100% yourself, 100% your most, in that moment.

I’d like that.

While life shouldn’t depend upon anticipation, sometimes it is a very important sustaining factor.

P.S. Things I get to do everyday:

See my amazing husband. Enjoy the company of my family. Think about friends and those far away. Be taken care of – and right now that is a BIG deal. Nap. So you know, it’s not all horrible stuff – it’s just . . . I can’t help daydreaming of the better days, which include these things, and so much more.

 

 

Age vs Beauty, and Sally Field …

Posted in Blogging and Other Fun, Bumpboobs, Life, Writing by

Beauty_is_as_beauty_does

The other day I was watching the View. I’m on leave from work, and I guess when you are on leave watching ladies chat about pop culture and American politics is a thing that just happens naturally. Honestly, they kind of drive me crazy (because I’d like to argue with them, but end up arguing with the TV screen. Then my mother, working in the other room, says ‘who are you talking to? And I have to  admit that it’s no one.), but if I don’t watch something I have trouble remembering to eat my banana for breakfast.

Anyhow, Sally Field appeared on the show to promote her film Hello My Name is Doris. Apparently it’s good, according to her and the ladies at the table. I believe them. From this chat, Sally Field was asked about gender and age in Hollywood. She shared some insightful remarks about trends and actions and ideas without follow through. I was impressed with her experienced perspective. But one little thing really caught me, and it continues to make me think.

While discussing age and Hollywood, the ladies of the view were letting Sally know how darn good she looked – ‘You look 35!’ says Joyce Beher, a View host. I know that is meant as a compliment, but it immediately strikes me as a sad juxtaposition against the words that Sally had literally just spoken. Sally Field is smart and productive and beautiful.

“What the heck was that?” I say to the TV screen.

Does she look 35? No.

Should she look 35? No.

Does Joyce’s comment inadvertently imply that whatever age Sally is at this moment isn’t an age to be honoured?

Yep.

And what’s sad is that is really how our culture has been trained to think, not just Joyce Beher. We attach beauty to age – with an emphasis on ‘anti-aging’, when the two things needn’t have a damn thing to do with one another.

People who are beautiful in my life:

My mother; my father; My mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my brother’s partners, my brothers, my best friend and her husband, my sister and brother in law, the inspiring library ladies who I worked with in both Southampton and Rosemount, the women of my old book club and writing group, the children of my cousins (and my lovely cousins too!), all the babies I adore to see on Facebook, my husband, my grandmother, my husband’s grandmother….

There are so many beautiful people in the world, and the more I come to meet and know them, the more incredible they are in my mind.

How old are all the people I just listed? It doesn’t matter one bit. They are a range of ages and experiences. They are a rainbow of eye colours, hair types, tan lines, wrinkles, scars, and smiles.

Beauty is not age. And the moment we say ‘you look half your age’ I think we discount the value of perspective, wisdom and credit earned within a lifetime, as well as how wrinkles add kindness to a face, and grey hair is lovely, and stretch marks are accomplishments. (etc)

Age before beauty? Beauty before age?

In my mind the two do not compete.

Beauty is as beauty does.

 

Shedding!

For quite a long time Zsolt and  I have  wanted to get a dog. And while I’m still so hooked on my very first and deep-in-the-heart retriever, there’s room in our lives for another happy pooch. A hypo-allergic pooch.

But in the  meanwhile, as we wait to live somewhere that could happily accommodate a dog, I feel we’re getting a taste of doggy life. My hair is  shedding all over the darn place! Here’s a hair, there’s a hair, every where’s a hair hair.

Everyone says it’s fine, and that’s greatly appreciated. But yes, we have a shedding animal in the house, and it’s me!

;P