Nothing and Everything

Two lovely people pointed out today that I no longer blog.  It has been a while.  I haven't quit.  I've just run out of things to write about...   This writers block seems to have coincided with my excellent health status as of late.  This blog has always been my respite when I was feeling confusion or fear related to my CF.  I can honestly say that I have not been having any of these feelings.  I had clean margins following the pre-melanoma skin excision.  At my August pulm appointment, my PFT's were higher than they had been for 10 years and I feel equally as excellent! 

So what have I been filling my days with over the past two months, now that I have moved into a phase where I'm not being forced to obsess about CF day in and day out?  I've been working hard, loving my family and enjoying my off time immensely.  In the past 2 1/2 months I've traveled to New York City, Nova Scotia, Washington DC, Boston and Toronto.  Half of this travel was for work and half was for play.  My very favorite experience from these trips happened on my getaway with my husband to Boston.  I got to knock Whale Watching off of my bucket list.  It was absolutely breathtaking...amazing...wondrous!

Last year at this time I feared that my life and my health would never return to "normal".  I was grieving the loss of the life I had before I had to incorporate CF into every hour of my existence.  For the past 2 months I have gotten to experience life as it was again and I couldn't be more thankful.  I don't want to waste a moment of it.  I now do an hour of treatments a day, take a couple handfuls of pills and complete an hour workout...CF does not own the other 22 hours.  So, I guess that's a big part of the reason I haven't been blogging.  I really see this as a CF blog and for now, at least, CF has been put in its place.

I came across 'Desiderata' today, I thought it related and I thought I'd share...

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may... become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann c.1920