A Letter Received: Two Abreast

[Guest post] We received the following note from a dear friend when I finished radiation. She sums up the dual nature of our year.

Dear Angie and Brettel,

Each one of you, individually and together, have completed a journey that, at the beginning a year ago, especially after your fall, Ange, promised to challenge your inner and outer resources to the hilt. You have both come through so very nobly and I rejoice with both of you at the promising outcomes; for your cancer treatment, Brettel, and for your badly fractured shoulder, Ange.

I have experienced you, Brettel, as always so focussed on taking advantage of every medical treatment option to give your body the ultimate advantage, remaining engaged with life as it unfolded for you over the past months. I have been touched by your updates (masterpieces of literature in my eyes!!) taking in the whole reality of your experiences on the journey, not just the illness itself. I saw you keeping all your dreams and aspirations in the mix , trusting unwaveringly in the basic fundamentals of the journey-this too will pass and all will be well! May you savour this ending and embrace this new beginning with the kind of gusto you are so capable of! Thank you for letting me in on your journey.

As for you, Ange, I can only imagine how demanding these past months have been. You were crippled from the onset of Brettel's journey, just as you were going into the caregiver role full tilt as is your characteristic way of giving yourself (in my eyes) . You have had to live with the uncertainties of your own healing process along with Brettel's uncertainties, caught in trying to arrange life's chaotic happenings in some kind of manageable household order while contributing to Brettel's wellbeing with good food. And I have been awed at the way you managed that. I have also been awed at the way you went at your own rehabilitation, as determined as Brettel to give your body the best possible chances to come whole again. May you know the goodness of what has been, your part in it, and may you be given whatever you need to welcome life as it unfolds for you.

Chapeau!!!

Cheering both of you on with love and appreciation for your journey.