THE MIRROR

A few weeks ago I read a story about a lady, more than a few years out of cancer diagnosis and mastectomy. She had decided not to have reconstuctive surgery to rebuild her breast line, So she has very visible suture lines and, of course the missing breast. She thought it would be less hassle than any of the reconstuctive procedures available.But she still gets upset when she looks in the mirror and often cries. She feels ugly, and thinks,”Why did this happen to me?”

The lady in the story was barely in her 40's, and tho I am much older, I related, and really understood her pain and dismay.

The story was on my mind a lot in the next several days, as I thought about cancer and survivors.I turned it over and over in my mind, thinking about the burden society puts on us regarding body image.Any body less than 'perfect' is not OK.

But a cancer survivor has ......well, survived. We've been to the mountain top and have looked over the whole world and decided, “Yeah, I'll stay here.I'll do what I hafta do to stay alive.”

So I looked in my mirror and thought about all I had survived, and how cancer had changed my life.How I HAD changed my life, changed my attitude, my perspective, my focus.Something clicked in my mind-- I changed my life. I am alive. And such overwhelming joy invaded me, my body, and my soul. With tears in my eyes, I was brought to my knees in thankfulness. In Joy, I am alive and I want to stay alive.

Now when I look in my mirror, I am reminded of these changes I made in my life.And I feel joy. Joy reminding me to stay on the track to life.I need to keep changing in a forward direction, and not look back.

Just look in my mirror.