On 01.02.02, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Too late for surgery, I had chemotherapy, which failed. In May the chemotherapy was changed and I was soon in remission which was celebrated and welcome and lasted nine years - until October 2011. There was progression in 2011 so more treatment was indicated and I am now back in partial remission. But I'm not only a cancer patient - I also enjoy my family, walk my dogs and am learning to draw and paint. Life is good!

Friday, February 27, 2009

Starting all over again

Today's walking - 20 minutes with Steve


There's something big about the number 500.  Yesterday I added the 500th post to my blog -- and was so excited I forgot to mention it! There's something amazing about my attention-deficit brain maintaining a practice, any practice, for that long. Even more amazing that I still enjoy it so much.

I've become the passionate blogger. Inscribe that on my tombstone, if you will, "She blogged with great passion" and let the wandering viewers in the cemetery make of it what they will.

Several things have happened since I took up blogging. One, I drew more, a lot more. From once in a while to once a week to daily, as my passion in learning how to draw and paint increased and responses began coming in, I felt accountable to "my public."

Second, these commentators spurred me on and became my distant friends. I read their blogs too. I wonder how they completed a difficult painting, whether they are feeling better, if they arrived safely and had a good time. Whatever they last wrote about, I wonder what happened next. I read lots of blogs, make that lots of blogs, every day. Although invisible to the bloggers, I am there, very much there with them.

So thank you, all of you who check in regularly or on occasion. It means more to me than you know and I'm glad you are part of my world.

Post 501 goes like this: I just finished reading a wonderful book by Richard Lischer, OPEN SECRETS. As a Lutheran pastor fresh out of seminary in the early '70s, he begins his ministry in a German rural setting in southeastern Illinois. I know that area fairly well because, during the very same years, my husband was beginning his ministry as an Episcopal priest in another part of southern Illinois. The two would have been great friends had they only met! This autobiographical account is bluntly honest about people met, mistakes made, lessons learned. It was my bedtime reading over half a week, it was that riveting. So, even if you aren't Lutheran, as I am not, consider it my current recommendation because it was a wonderful read!

7 comments:

  1. I so enjoyed reading your comments--since you feel very similar to me--love the inscription!!! Never stop...Winna

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  2. Congratulations on 500 posts! That is a great achievement in that you have been sharing with all of us your struggles and progress with drawing. And I must say that since I started following along you have made great progress! Keep going :)

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  3. Holy CATS!!! 500!!!! Congrats to you on a very productive blog! WooHOO! :)

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  4. Congratulations! Looking forward to the next 500.

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  5. Anonymous9:58 PM

    Congratulations from France as well. I still follow your blog through Google Reader - it's become a must-read for me. Keep on going!

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  6. Thank you so much! You folks are the reason I have become so passionate about blogging and drawing. Thank you for checking in so often.

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  7. I enjoyed 501 so much! Yes, of course, and so many of the proceeding! This one just says so well how I also feel about our fellow bloggers. So thanks for that.

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