Weekly Round-Up

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girl_with_lassoTime for this week’s round-up of the best of the blogs which I’ve read over the past week. These are the posts that have moved me, taught me something, inspired me, and which I’ve wanted to share with you. As always, if you have written or read a post recently which you would like me to share with readers, then please leave a comment below.

I discovered a new (to me) blog this week, with a great title The Dog Lived (and so will I) which is also the title of author Teresa’s new book. The story behind the title is that in 2008 when Teresa was diagnosed with breast cancer she took inspiration from her dog Seamus (great Irish name that!) who had cancer three years before that and given only a year to live. Teresa writes:

He’s still alive, cancer free and completely healthy. Cancer barely slowed him down. So yeah, the dog lived…and so will I.

For those of you following along with Terri’s adventures, you won’t want to miss Britta’s latest Cinco Vidas post in support of Terri’s Adventure of Hope. I was excited to hear how Phillipa met up with Terri this week in Hong Kong and you can read of their encounter on the Feisty Blue Gecko blog. I’m excited to be next in line to meet Terri next month as she makes time on her travels to stop off in Ireland.

Lots of perks in Florence’s blog this week and the stand-out one for me was her post in praise of treats in the mail – something I love to get too 🙂

Catherine is celebrating the first signs of spring this week.

Debbie is celebrating her first year blogoversary and it was a real treat to read along as she looks back on a year of blogging with her best blog posts. Do take a look and see how far Debbie has come since her first post.

Double Whammied is also celebrating an anniversary – her first year cancerversary.

Nancy is reflecting on anniversaries too – the anniversaries of those losses and griefs which we all carry in our lives from year-to-year.

We still carry Rachel and Susan in our hearts and our blogs this week. Here is a selection of the bloggesses reflections:

Writing on the day of Rachel’s funeral, the Pink Underbelly, is reflecting on Rachel’s

enormous contribution to our BC blogging world. About how many people’s lives are better because of her. About how she spoke from the heart, with tremendous passion, and a healthy dose of snarkiness. About how even as this vicious disease consumed her, she wanted things to change, and was willing to type one-handed and battle multiple symptoms & side-effects to get her message across.

I love what AnneMarie writes about what really matters in the end

…the love you take is equal to the love you make…Much love left this planet on Monday.  While our hearts may be broken, they are filled with that very same love….

Kathi also writes of Rachel’s legacy on her blog The Accidental Amazon and reminds us that “for Rachel, for Susan, we must all keep writing their stories and ours.”

This theme is also echoed in Jan’s Keep Writing, Keep Writing post:

Rest in peace, dear friend. You are “still here” in our eyes and will live on in our continued writings. You will assume a new role as our muse. And we hope you will be amused by our rantings.

Rachel’s life, death and legacy has been an occasion for deep reflection for Bringing up Goliath, as she takes time out “to refresh, regroup and process the losses, not just those of last week, but all the losses over the years, the nearly 30 years since my mother was first diagnosed.  When breast cancer entered my vernacular and never left.”

Sarah Horton, who travelled from Liverpool for Rachel’s funeral service writes movingly of their friendship:

I searched for a long time to find breast cancer friends and , for me, finding Rach was like fulfilling everything I wanted – someone who got where I was about breast cancer culture – she filled a void. I mean that would have been enough… But the fact that we shared all those other interests was just a bonus really. And so not to have her in my life leaves the void again.

Kim shared a video in memory of Susan on her blog.

Finally, I leave you this week with the Rilke poem “All will come again” shared by Katie on her blog Uneasy Pink today – it strikes me as so appropriate during this time of loss.

All will come again into its strength:
the fields undivided, the waters undammed,
the trees towering and the walls built low.
And in the valleys, people as strong and varied as the land.

And no churches where God
is imprisoned and lamented
like a trapped and wounded animal.
The houses welcoming all who knock
and a sense of boundless offering
in all relations, and in you and me.

No yearning for an afterlife, no looking beyond,
no belittling of death,
but only longing for what belongs to us
and serving earth, lest we remain unused.

Much love to you all..

Marie xxx

Category : Death and Dying, Psychological impact of cancer, Round-Up, Survivorship, Younger Women and Breast Cancer
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