May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

Imagine you were told today,

Death would come sooner that just some day.

Imagine your heart skipping a beat,

Cancer had struck and you felt defeat.

Imagine a hand reaching out to hold,

Offering love, friendship, and strength to be bold.

Imagine a Mother ready to fight,

Two boys who needed her, she couldn't die that night.

Imagine a nurse who was now the patient,

Her friends and her family would be her inspiration.

Imagine a year since the news that day,

And YOU will know the power when God's children Pray.

I think we are all guilty of waiting and hoping for someday in the future when our lives will be different. When we have the time...the money...the right moment! We wait to pursue our hopes, goals, and dreams. For many of us, someday never comes. We just continue to postpone our lives waiting for that perfect time in our lives. We become consumed with the worries of tomorrow, the regrets of yesterday, and how busy we are today. We miss out on the very moment, the only day we are promised, to change our lives ... TODAY! We miss today. Full of opportunities to touch and inspire others around you. To remember without regret. To live fully self-expressed.

I promised myself one year ago that I wouldn't just look at life differently, I would also live differently. I took time to notice things that before would have gone on the "Later" list. I've cried, hurt, feared, screamed, laughed, healed, challenged, loved and celebrated.

 Cancer taught me about TODAY.

I've learned that today is the day to say "I love you."

Today is the day to tell someone "I appreciate you more than you will ever know"

Today is the day to say, "I'm sorry, will you forgive me" and today is the day to "Forgive"

Today is the day to forgive yourself, to let go, to love life.

Today is the day to stop and count your blessings.

TODAY it is my hope that your life will be forever changed. Today is the day I hope you remember. When looking back on your life, to say, "THAT was the DAY"!!!  That was the day I started living differently. That was the day I started living my life to the fullest... no matter where ... no matter the circumstances. 

Tied together by the staff of the
RNICU, Bound Forever in Love

This blog, for the most part, has been an unedited revealing of myself. In anticipation of this day, I had spent some time working on what I would say on such an important milestone of my life. I thought I had it finished but I was surprised, overwhelmed, when I walked into the UAB RNICU today. Here is another picture diary of what I experienced. 

My Nurse Manager, Donna Purvis, who made working with cancer a possiblilty.

Page Paradise who will never let me stop fighting!

Christie Campbell who introduced me to "The Faces of Cancer"
A calendar constructed to raise money for research and awareness.

Jennifer and Chrisie, a smiling face and a comforting word were always there when I needed it.

This sign read "Happy 1st Anniversary Juliet! Not just another Survivor - Our Hero"
Really.... They are mine!

I can't believe it! I'm a grape!!!!
Toni, you can finally retire.

That face says, how could I ever thank you enough

Susan, Mama Sue! Always supportive, loving, and full of hugs!

Hoping that one day Carcinoid Cancer will be a ghost of the past

Thanks Jeff, you always make a day at work easier.

Lynette, a woman of many talents. Thank you for the
great cake and the heart-warming signs. I'll never forget
this day!

Kerri Alecia, thanks for helping with the details
during my leave. You are special to me, to all of us.

Tatayana, you are #1 in my book, no matter
what language you're speaking!
Denise, thank you and I still use my Garmin
to get me where I need to go.

Melissa, Marla, and Lyndsey! Your prayers and letters
helped me fight on hard days!

Nancy and Helen, there is nothing more warm than
your genuine smile and concern for me.

Andrea, Felicia, Angie, Amanda, Stephanie!
I've loved watching all of you grow into
amazing nurses.
 " If hope is born of suffering, if this is only the beginning,if there is no sudden healing...This is what it means to be held, how it feels when the sacred is torn from your life and you survive. This is what it means to be loved and to know, the promise was .... that when everything fell, We'd be held."  

My dear precious family .... thank you for holding me.