The Joy of Life

Tom cat is still missing and it's been 2 weeks today. My cat lady neighbour is very optimistic about Tom and has reminded me what a survivor he is. She thinks he's out there somewhere alive and wandering.

Maybe he met a nasty neighbour and is feeling a little people shy again. Either way, we both hope he comes home soon. (And I berate myself for not taking more photos and videos of him... what if I never get to see him again? He was by my side every night and day that I was home. To me it was as if he'd be around forever. I wish I'd appreciated him even more than I did).

We'd had some dark and overcast days and my spirit certainly felt pretty down. Then when entering the kitchen I saw this beautiful violet had come into bloom. Hidden away on the shelf this beauty grew secretly and in silence only to reveal itself in its glorious full bloom. I note that it had been there all along, I just hadn't noticed.

Death and threats of death seem to float very close by lately, threatening my loved ones. A coworker with bowel cancer, a friend with breast cancer, my own mother with thyroid cancer, a client just diagnosed with it and a fellow Canadian blogger, Barry (http://anexplorers.blogspot.com/), has just been diagnosed with this dreaded illness.

Many of us confess we fear it. Every pain or internal ache and it makes me think, "I wonder if I have cancer?" And I know I'm not alone in these thoughts. Finally I'm being pushed to appreciate what health I do have and to not take it so for granted. And I'll have a mammogram this spring as I promised my friend Anne who has recently fought breast cancer.

There's no shortage of things around to suck the joy from life and sometimes when I feel sorry for myself I make a point of remembering those people who are not as fortunate as me. I watched a show on the weekend that showed children under 10 battling cancer (one girl had no less than 42 weeks of chemotherapy) and she died. It was heartbreaking to watch and beautiful too. Beautiful only because sometimes those things that put us close to death bring out the sweetness of the joy of life. I remember this when my father-in-law died. He was a man who would not tell his children he loved them, not until cancer struck him down. As he lay dying it was very sad but beautiful how he let down the walls and told his children he loved them.

So it appears my prayer life is growing, praying for my fur babies and my family and friends. I just pray that the only thing sucked away is the cancer and all that's left behind is that beautiful sweetness and joy of life.