Wow. I’m feeling SO MUCH better than I’d anticipated. Thank you for your emails, positive thoughts, and mashed potatoes! Chemo makes you weepy, reflective, and uber-cheesy. On that note, an article I stumbled upon last week articulated my feelings about being on the receiving end of so much love. Here’s the snippit that grabbed me:

Our society provides no curriculum or schooling on how to notice love or recognize the many people who love us. Most of  us haven’t been taught that to receive love deeply and transmit it wholeheartedly is a real human possibility, that it can be learned, and that to do so is the key to our deepest well-being. As adults, we need to become newly aware of the love that has infused our lives all along.

From “Love is All Around” by John Makransky, published in Tricycle

But how does one learn to give and receive love? I will NEVER EVER say cancer is a gift. (As one wry friend put it, “if cancer is a gift, you’re not invited to my birthday party.”) But I am open to recognizing how it’s changed me. And, without a doubt, the most profound shift I’ve experienced is my ability to see the love that has infused my life all along.