If
you know me at all, have read many of my blog posts, you know that sometimes I’m
unconventional. I don’t always look at the world the same way as other people.
I can find humor in inappropriate instances and sorrow in comedy. And having
had my world ripped to shreds by my sister’s cancer, I came to the edge of that
reality, peeked in but was spared, while my sister, my best friend, was not.
In
Yvonne’s great memoir of her own cancer journey, she allows the reader to peek
over the edge as well. And she doesn’t hold anything back. She thinks like I do
and I can appreciate that, such as her great concern over not shaving her
armpits the morning of her breast exam. Now, come on, women, haven’t you all
had the same fear! And never told anyone before.
Yet,
Yvonne writes with beauty and poise. And shares all of her pain, the physical
and psychological. Many of us women can tell ourselves that losing all of our
hair is no big deal – every time I get mine cut, I am tempted to ask my
hairdresser to just shave it off – but I think everyone of us is attached to
our hair in a way that even we don’t understand.
Of
course, we are even more attached to our families, our loved ones. We would
willingly take on any and all pain and fear if we could only spare them. But
sometimes that just can’t happen, but life goes on.
So,
if you are facing the cancer journey, have a love one who is, or just want to
read about another strong woman’s journey, read “An Inconvenient Year”.
(A side note, Yvonne is writing from Dublin,
Ireland, so some of the words and grammar she uses may not be familiar to
American readers. For me that took nothing away from the story, only made it
that much more real.)
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