The first thousand days

I mark my 1,000th day as a breast cancer survivor today, May 27, 2007.

It’s just amazing…I never really thought I’d reach this far into the journey. 

Though I visualize daily cradling my grandchildren in my arms, there is always within me that resignation, or more of acceptance—that the future is uncertain, and there are no guarantees for and of tomorrow. 

I only have today…and for the first thousand days of my journey I have been living each ‘today’ to the best that I can—often with gusto, but sometimes with dread/fear/trembling and spiked every now and then with bouts of depression. 

The most important thing to me is that I have been miraculously gifted with this time to be with my family. The kids are growing up so quickly, and we try to make the most of each day—fulfilling the purposes for which we were created: mine to be grateful, and theirs to show me how to be grateful. 

The Lord blessed me recently with a family reunion—my siblings and I finally all got together, after two decades or more of not seeing one another. It was such a treat. And now we’re planning a big reunion to include nieces and nephews and grandchildren in December 2009. I intend to still be alive by then. 

And the greatest blessing yet in recent days: My youngest sister was spared from an unfavorable diagnosis. An excision biopsy of two lumps in her breast showed a benign or harmless growth, “consistent with fatty tissue.” Praise God Almighty!

Truly the Lord is watching us all closely as we mature in our faith. And Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, is the most humble Help of all Christians in this earthly pilgrimage.

I pray for at least another thousand days of life, love and laughter. My hope rests in God’s mercy. Let me be ready when it’s time. Let me be ready all the time.