So... everyone who knows me knows that I had cancer and am thankfully done with that episode of my life (PRAISE JESUS!!!)... Most also know that my coping mechanism when dealing with this little situation was humor and sarcasm (my doctors were not always a fan of this but they did laugh with me every once in a while... and my friends often looked at me with that "Oh my god, did she just say that??" look and then we moved on)... They also probably know that while dealing with the lovely "C" word, we were in grad school (which is like an illness of its own) and planning our wedding. The fantastic part is that now, post grad school, 2 years (almost) into our beautiful marriage, and cancer free, we have a wonderful and crazy life. While I still have regular appointments and tests, life has become our form of "normal."
Every once in a while, I read/see/hear/smell/remember something that brings back all of those memories slamming into me like a cement truck. Today is one of those days. While perusing through facebook (darn that website), I ran across this post from the "Stand Up to Cancer" page called "To all my future brides…don’t lose sight of what really matters"... I should just end this post now, but I have to tell you about how much I LOVE this article... and how it sent me into a sobbing fit in my office... awkward I know...
When you are planning a wedding, it is so easy to get caught up in the self-centered "me me me" event planning stage... Every show on TV tells us it is ALL ABOUT THE WEDDING... no one every talks about preparing for a marriage (yeah that life long commitment you are agreeing to DURING the wedding). When you have cancer and you are planning a wedding, everything changes... Your priorties, your dreams, your hopes, your conversations, the party planning, how you are going to spend your bachelorette party/wedding night/honeymoon, what you will do the day/weeks/months after the wedding... everything...You pretty much feel like NO ONE in the world is as crazy as you and almost everyone you meet asks you when you are planning on rescheduling... People forget that the thought of your wedding might be one of the things that gets you excited and the marriage to your life partner is probably getting you out of bed in the morning. This article articulates all of the things I tried to tell people when they would ask me what we are doing. The wedding is about preparing for the marriage. I cannot think of a better (or worse) way to prepare for a marriage than going through cancer together... because lets face it, it is not just about you and your cancer... you are going through it together... it puts EVERY church marriage-prep class to shame.. trust me...
Please read this article and share it with any new bride/groom you know. It will bring tears to your eyes and it may even put a new perspective on what is important.
My hope/prayer for her and her partner is that she beats her disease and can live many many years as a Mrs.
No comments:
Post a Comment