-
For my 16 year old self …
Given what I know now, what would I say to to the girl I used to be? Would I give her advice? Comfort? Truth? Would I tell her that family matters, health matters, that she matters most? I imagine there would be some of this: Lessons for the Girl I Used to Be … It’s impossible to imagine, but you and your friends will soon go your separate ways, to different universities in different parts of the country. As you know by now, my darling girl, you’re going to decide against reading English at Stirling University in Scotland. You’ll wonder about that decision in years to come. You’ll wonder what…
-
Uncategorized
Day 9: “let all the children boogie”
Today’s WEGO Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge is a little quirky, requiring me to make my own version of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster. I always assumed this was something Winston Churchill had said to boost the morale of his countrymen. Something that would perfectly capture the quintessential British stiff-upper-lip-stoicism. Turns out he didn’t. According to Keep Calm and Carry On, The Real Story, the poster that has been so frequently parodied as an internet meme wasn’t even discovered until long after the end of the war. The original plan by the British government’s Information Ministry, had been to issue the poster when Germany invaded Britain. Since that didn’t…
-
Day 8: A one sided conversation
Today’s WEGO Health Activist Writer’s Month challenge is to recap an awesome conversation I had this week, perhaps in the form of a script. I’ve had all kinds of conversations this week, some inspirational some not so much. Not all have been pleasant, and not all have required me to be physically present. I have taken turns at talking and listening, but between Twitter and Skype, Facebook and social media in general, I am learning that conversation in the 21st century is a complex thing, involving more than the exchange of ideas and opinions between people in the same space. Not too late, my definition of conversation has expanded to include reading and writing and…
-
Uncategorized
Day 7: Wait Time
Entering week two of the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge, and I’m pressing on, fueled by the creativity and the unflagging spirit that leaps from the writings of my Army of Women comrades, AnneMarie at chemo-brain.blogspot.com Jan Hasak at Mourning has Broken and my country-woman Marie Ennis-O’Connor at Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer. Today, I get a bit of a reprieve. I can write about whatever I want. I’m supposed to “think big, broad, or challenging,” and write the post I’ve always wanted to but haven’t had the time. Time. I was talking to my mother on the phone this morning about how there’s simply never enough of it. Initially she wasn’t in the…
