I hate when the universe conspires to teach me a lesson.
If you've been paying any attention to my last few posts, I've been all grumpy and pissed off about life in general despite the fact that my life isn't bad. In fact, it's quite good and I have lots of things to be thankful for - including that I have the means to be able to take a vacation to get out of my snit if I choose to.
Because I was putting a lot of negative energy into the universe, the universe felt the need to put me in my place and give me a little perspective. It did that through an old professor of mine who sent me an email informing me that my good friend E, the best "man" at my wedding (even though she is female), has had a relapse of the cancer that she had treated in 1998 when she was just 21.
News like that'll take the wind out of your own personal pity party pretty darn fast, I'll tell you what.
This is not a normal cancer either. It's a bone growth that is on her skull by her ear and before she had surgery on it almost ten years ago it was wrapping itself around her jugular and facial nerve threatened to cut off the supply of blood to her brain and paralyze half her face. The surgery she ended up having had only been performed by two surgeons in the country. It kept her alive but she was left with a facial palsy. E did not start out with the highest of self-esteem and this did not exactly help it. Let's face it, anything that makes you feel unattractive and different, especially when you are in your early twenties still trying to define yourself is unfortunate. But, despite all that, she's been quite positive about things.
Besides being informed that "it's back" I don't know what is happening with her tumor at this point. I don't know if it is operable, if it is threatening her nerves and veins in the same way, or if it's found some new and different way to make her life complicated and dangerous. I don't know if it is a death sentence. What I do know is this, I received a second message from that same professor minutes after the first that essentially said, "and by the way, her Dad just died too."
Man, when the universe is trying to balance karma, it works in mysterious and unfair ways.
So, my "woe is me, I need a vacation" posts are on hiatus for now. (I won't lie, I think part of it is also that those particular hormones may have passed through my system. That was one potent round of PMS.) I left E a message and I hope she calls me back. I'll keep trying to get in touch with her. And if instead of the Caribbean I end up in central Pennsylvania so be it. Time away is time away. And time away to spend with a friend, who may or may not have a limited amount of time to spend, is priceless.
If you've been paying any attention to my last few posts, I've been all grumpy and pissed off about life in general despite the fact that my life isn't bad. In fact, it's quite good and I have lots of things to be thankful for - including that I have the means to be able to take a vacation to get out of my snit if I choose to.
Because I was putting a lot of negative energy into the universe, the universe felt the need to put me in my place and give me a little perspective. It did that through an old professor of mine who sent me an email informing me that my good friend E, the best "man" at my wedding (even though she is female), has had a relapse of the cancer that she had treated in 1998 when she was just 21.
News like that'll take the wind out of your own personal pity party pretty darn fast, I'll tell you what.
This is not a normal cancer either. It's a bone growth that is on her skull by her ear and before she had surgery on it almost ten years ago it was wrapping itself around her jugular and facial nerve threatened to cut off the supply of blood to her brain and paralyze half her face. The surgery she ended up having had only been performed by two surgeons in the country. It kept her alive but she was left with a facial palsy. E did not start out with the highest of self-esteem and this did not exactly help it. Let's face it, anything that makes you feel unattractive and different, especially when you are in your early twenties still trying to define yourself is unfortunate. But, despite all that, she's been quite positive about things.
Besides being informed that "it's back" I don't know what is happening with her tumor at this point. I don't know if it is operable, if it is threatening her nerves and veins in the same way, or if it's found some new and different way to make her life complicated and dangerous. I don't know if it is a death sentence. What I do know is this, I received a second message from that same professor minutes after the first that essentially said, "and by the way, her Dad just died too."
Man, when the universe is trying to balance karma, it works in mysterious and unfair ways.
So, my "woe is me, I need a vacation" posts are on hiatus for now. (I won't lie, I think part of it is also that those particular hormones may have passed through my system. That was one potent round of PMS.) I left E a message and I hope she calls me back. I'll keep trying to get in touch with her. And if instead of the Caribbean I end up in central Pennsylvania so be it. Time away is time away. And time away to spend with a friend, who may or may not have a limited amount of time to spend, is priceless.
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