Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore.Dream.Discover. ~Mark Twain
Only two days ago, I received an email that I had been accepted to go with 14 other cancer survivors in January, on a trek to Mount Kilimanjaro. Yes, the 19,431 foot mountain that rises up out of heat of the African equator to a snow capped summit of sheer beauty. A once in a life time opportunity to walk alongside others that have travelled similar paths, experienced similar challenges, and like me want to "climb this mountain", knowing their is life and a future Above & Beyond Cancer.
If you had asked me 20 years ago what my life would look like today, I wouldn't have had a clue how to answer. Even though I have always been a free spirit at heart, I might have given the dreamy young girl's answer of being married to a knight in shining armor, and living in a house with a white picket fence, several kids, two dogs and the perfect job.
Would I have imagined myself with the knight, four kids, a house, two dogs, the perfect job, stage IV cancer at 33, losing the hair I thought I could never part with, and beginning a journey that would forever change my life? NO WAY. I was young and invincible. Time is never an issue when you are young, because it is never ending. Death is a word saved for those that are really "old." And the idea of living each day to the fullest, well, I was already doing that,or so I thought.
My first real wake up call to experiencing the fullness of this world in a unique and meaningful way was the day I received the call that I had cancer. I know it sounds crazy, but as tough as the journey has been, I have truly been blessed. My eyes have been opened to a new beauty, and an understanding that is almost indescribable. I don't know any more about the future than I did before, but I do know now that I have been given a second chance and a new appreciation for life, and that my journey and God given purpose has just begun.
I am very much looking forward to this adventure, and hope you will join me and the others along the way, as I share our journey to the top!
Fear not that thy life shall come to an end,but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning. ~John Cardinal Newman
Comments