Technicolor

I finally figured how to wear headphones under my helmut, attach my car key to my rollerblades & tuck a water flask into my waistband. Now  I can rollerblade long swaths of the newly paved, smooth-as-glass bike path, to music I love, and stay hydrated on these 90 degree days. I dancer-blade really, with my arms extended, swaying to the music, my legs kicking out in rhythm to the songs I hear. It’s true, I may look a bit nutty, but I may occasionally look graceful & certainly enraptured.

I keep having experiences like that, where I feel a kind of intensity of aliveness, pleasure, connection & joy. It’s not like I never felt these things before, but this year, everything measures up in contrast to last year; it’s as if my life used to be in black & white & now it’s all in Technicolor.

I felt that on the dance floor tonight with a favorite partner, eating a peach at the kitchen table this afternoon with the sun streaming across the tablecloth, with a long time patient of mine yesterday morning in the clinic. It’s a kind of openness to experience and an appreciation of all the small things that add up together to make my life as I love it. 

I had the distinct pleasure of addressing the heart of my profession at our national convention in Oakland earlier this month, in a lecture, CliffNotes from CancerLand, which I rather enjoyed delivering, while a slideshow of choice images from last year played behind me. I shared a bit of my story & some lessons learned. You all know the lessons because you read these posts, so I won’t elaborate!

Suffice it to say, life is coming at us like a strong river these days, with lots of opportunities to enjoy the kids, their shenanigans & achievements. To bear witness to their chasing of their dreams is our parental delight. 

And after lots of travels, it’s pure sweetness to be home, listening as I am tonight to the sound of the crickets, the katydids, the whir of the fan. It’s not a fancy house, ours, but it’s fits just right and I miss it when we're away.

Work is humming along. The practice is back to where it was; it feels good to be back on that side of the medical equation. We are at long last going to teach our NESH course in sunny San Diego starting this winter, our first foray into California. We’ve also taken teaching gigs all over the map, which is a bit terrifying for this itinerant homebody, but we love what we do and accepting opportunities to teach and inspire others feels about right just now. Also advocating for our licensure bill once again, always a good challenge which offers us chances to meet new people and share what we do.

And in what could be filed under the over-achiever category, I proudly completed my first triathlon 6 months to the day after my last chemotherapy. Me doing that race is testament to conventional & naturopathic medicine and my own stubborn belief that I’d come back better than ever. It was helpful to have that goal to drive my already healthy discipline around exercise this year, plus fun to bring the family together on a mission. I believe all cancer survivors/thrivers should train like uber-athletes most every day. Can’t beat the endorphins and let’s face it, in the realm of psycho-neuro-immunology, exercise is king!

During the 5K run, (after the quarter mile swim & 10 mile bike ride,) when I felt a little bored, I went through the extensive thank you roll call of so many of you who sent love & prayers, positive thoughts & cards, brought food, gave massages & offered expertise with medical & healing care. That got me right into the chute & over the finish line, strong & healthy, and happy to be alive! 

I know I am one lucky lady. 

Here we are post race, all smiles wearing our hardware!

Post race, all smiles and sore calves!

Here’s wishing you a sweet rest of summer and a good transition into autumn. I love these long days, these sultry nights and summer farm fresh food, but I also love fall with the crunching leaves and favorite sweaters! 

We can’t go wrong, really.

Love & light

AMY