Today was a hard day. I went to the Midwest Metastatic Breast Cancer Conference. It was a well organized conference, with some great speakers and presentations, and I heard a lot of very valuable information. I met some really lovely people.
But it was also really hard. It was hard to hear about one of the valiant organizers of the conference who succumbed to this disease just a few weeks ago. It was hard to hear about the difficulties that so many people with this disease face. And it was hard because it was an acknowledgement, a reminder, that I am still dealing with this disease.
It was hard because we lost a dear family member yesterday. My kind and gentle aunt passed away from complications from treatment for lymphoma. It's a devastating loss for my uncle and cousins, and she will be so deeply missed. I was thinking about them all a lot today.
It was hard because I also found out this past week that a very good friend of mine was just diagnosed with breast cancer. And I hate to think about her having to go through it. I thought about her a lot today and the many other dear people I know who have had to face a cancer diagnosis or who have lost a loved one to cancer. It is too high a number.
It was hard because I was reminded of how cancer has stolen so much from so many and caused so much suffering. And today, it is breaking my heart just a little bit.
But this is what it is to be human. And those broken places in our hearts somehow get filled up again. I don't know how it happens, but if we allow grace in it just does. The breaks, of course, can never really be repaired to their original state. But those cracks, they remind us that we can break, and then we can be put back together again.
One of the best things that came out of the conference today was the quote that I shared at the top of this post. It is so beautifully and tragically true. Life is, indeed, amazing, and then it's awful, and then it's amazing again.
Life is full of suffering. But it is also full of overcoming it. And that gives me hope.
