Weekly Round-Up

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. Remember, 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 am starting off with a round-up of the bloggers who took up Anne Marie’s writing challenge to us this week. Here is what she prompted us to think and write about:

What are those phrases, those words, those things you’ve heard spoken (or written) that have caused you to become irritated?  Annoyed?  Angered to the “I’ll seriously hurt you” point?  Gotten cranky over?  Were they said to you?  About you?

Jan answered the writing challenge on her blog and made the excellent point that she counters the insensitivity by educating the public through her talks and presentations. Beth made me laugh out loud as I read her responses to the insensitive comments that have been said to her – be warned! some of them are jaw droppingly crass. And Lori’s contribution to the debate is both eloquent and intelligent  – another must read.

Lois continues the series of posts, interspersed with her poignant and beautiful poetry about losing her mother. I find it heartbreaking to read these, but am also grateful to find what is in my heart echoed in her words.

Poetry is also the order of the day on The Paw Paw Salad blog and Yvonne’s mother is the subject of her latest post, as she recounts the love and care which goes into the packages crafted lovingly by her mother for her.  There is a lot to ponder in Yvonne’s post, and I encourage you to read it and reflect on its contents.

Isn’t it wonderful when we learn new things about our friends in the blogosphere and find ourselves saying I never knew you did that – and so it is with Jackie this week, who revealed herself as a biker chick. I loved how she draws analogies between how motorcycle riding is like breast cancer.

Debbie hosted her first guest blogger this week,  Annette Ramke, co-author of Kicking Cancer in the Kitchen : The Girlfriend’s Cookbook and Guide to Using Real Food to Fight Cancer.

Kathi is crowdsourcing opinions on breast reconstruction on her blog and her post will be of great help to those who are about to go down this same road. I thought her method of  choosing a surgeon to perform the operation makes a lot of sense.

Florence has shared an incredible story with readers about how cancer taught one woman to love life again and Lani has a moving tribute to another cancer loss to our world on her blog.

Renn has found a post on her blog that she wrote exactly a year ago, just after her cancer diagnosis, but before her treatment began. As I said in my comment to her, I think it’s incredible when we can look back on how far we have come on our journey through our writings. Nancy’s Point is also reflecting on her own journey with cancer as she writes about how the painful memories of her bilateral mastectomy live on  – a theme also echoed in Bringing Up Goliath.

And now I want to introduce you all to a new (to the round-up) blog by Audrey Birt. Audrey is the Director for Scotland of Breakthrough Breast Cancer and has recently been diagnosed for a second time with early breast cancer. This week, she writes about mindfulness and music – a wonderful combination indeed.

School’s out for summer and Nancy‘s anticipation and excitement at the summer days ahead is infectious. “When you are looking forward to the promise of something you have come a long way forward on your journey” wrote one of Nancy’s readers and I think it is a wonderfully true statement. I hope wherever you are in the world, that too will make happy memories this summer with your loved ones.

Yours with love

Marie xxx