Weekly Round Up

Time for this week’s round-up of the best of the blog posts 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. Don’t forget if you have written a post which you would like readers to see, just leave a comment below.

Thank you all for your beautiful responses to the posts I wrote this week on grief. I wrote them not just as an outlet for my own grief, but also in solidarity for those who are grieving in these days leading up to Christmas.  In her own grief this week, Yvonne writes of feeling “like a barn sparrow in a nest and in spite of years of practice and watching others do it so effortlessly, I cannot remember how to fly”. And although Beth is writing about forgetting a “cancerversary” this week, her post  has echoes for me on my reflections on grief.  To experience cancer is to experience grief. We grieve for the loss not just of a breast, but also the person we once were. The fact that Beth forgot a milestone cancerversary is a healthy sign that she is moving on with her life. We will never forget cancer, but hopefully in time the experience will become a rough patch in the fabric of the new life we are now weaving. (I am conscious as I write these words, that this rough patch is a daily experience for those living with metastatic cancer).

Spending the holiday season here in Australia has liberated me from the usual busyness of Christmas shopping, cooking, and visiting. It has given me time to step back and reflect, and I find this beautifully echoed in Debbie’s latest post, as she outlines her plans to rest and refresh.  Continuing with the Christmas theme, Chris is reflecting on what the Christmas season means to him now; the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has advice for those struggling to cope with difficult emotions; Elizabeth shares her family’s annual Christmas tradition of writing a reflective letter on the year that has just passed and Jo Taylor writes about the sadness and joys of her Christmases.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere

Nancy has a book giveaway and a guest post by Teri Smieja, BRCA patient advocate. Hurry the competition ends Sunday.

Adventures with chemobrain feature on the  Adventures of OBB blog this week.

Philippa is resharing her 12 Days Of Chemo post.

Warning!  Spoiler alert. If  you’re a fan of the Danish political series Borgen, and you live in a country where the series is a little behind the UK, then I don’t want to spoil things for you by sharing the most recent storyline which has an unexpected twist – Audrey reveals all for those who are up-to-date.

And that concludes another week of blogging. I say this every week at the start of the round-up, but I’d like to emphasize it again – if you have written a post which I have missed out on, please do feel free to share with us in the comments. I only get to read a small selection of blogs each week, and I am aware there is more great writing out there which deserves a wider audience.

Until next week.

Keep blogging, reflecting and taking good care of yourselves.

Yours with love

Marie xxx