It's OK if you don't know what to say!

4/10/2012

Sometimes when friends or family give us upsetting news like "I have cancer"
We don't always know what to say or do.
So we do nothing. We may even avoid the person.

I want to let everyone know that it is OK. It is fine.
Please don't feel awkward around me. I totally understand.
Sometimes when we learn of devastating illness or death of a loved one or even an acquaintance, deep down, we are forced to face our own mortality, and it scares us. I went through this when my younger sister was dying from breast cancer.

There are supposedly 5 stages of grief.
The 1st stage is denial and Beth didn't have to have this one,
because I had more than enough for the both of us.
I just couldn't understand how someone 49 years old could let something she had fought for more than 20 years win.

My other sister Jan who is also a breast cancer survivor, put it in proper perspective for me when she reminded me that we didn't lose Beth overnight.
Beth was in fact a fighter who had survived for 20 years past her initial diagnosis!


So, I have an illness. It is a crappy one for sure, but I am dealing with it and I am still me. If anything, my life is fuller now because I truly appreciate the miracle of each new day, and something as simple as sunlight streaming through the window makes me smile.Especially when my little grandson tries to "catch" the dust motes swirling within it.

So get out there and have a marvelous day everyone.
And please know that whatever you feel, and how you show it, or not show it, is perfectly OK.

(((hugs)))
Love, Dixie :)


"I learned a lot from the stories my uncle, aunts, and grandparents told me: that no one is perfect but most people are good; that people can't be judged only by their worst or weakest moments; that harsh judgments can make hypocrites of us all; that a lot of life is just showing up and hanging on; that laughter is often the best, and sometimes the only, response to pain.-Bill Clinton

"Do not tell me that this is "God's Will" or "Part of some greater Plan"
If you do, I may just have to kick your ass.- Dixie Theriault