Thursday, April 3, 2014

A Week's Worth of Happenings


Hello All,
My company arrived last Friday, celebrated my birthday with me, and flew home yesterday. So today is devoted to doing the laundry and getting everything back to normal. You all know how that is.  
  
     
         Also, I’m responding—by phone and e-mail—to all the birthday greetings I received. Then there’s the catching up with six day’s worth of e-mails and the postal mail that came—junk, bills, catalogs—during that time. I’m sure you all know how that is also.
         Here’s another piece of news that many of you—maybe all of you—will appreciate and understand because you, too, have received good news at a doctor’s office. Last Thursday I saw the dermatologist who prescribed the light treatments for my CTCL and is monitoring their effectiveness. She carefully examined my arms, legs, and chest on which, six weeks ago, were displayed many large pink blotches.
         “Everything on your left leg is in remission,” she announced. Then she looked at my chest. “Same thing here.” Only a single blotch on my left arm, a swath on my right arm, and quite a bit of my right leg—from the knee to the ankle—remain stubborn. But all were changing color, which is a sign they are going into remission.
         She agreed that two days a week instead of three were sufficient and concluded, “Dee, if your skin continues to respond this way, I think you’ll be able to stop coming after the next six weeks.”
         Hurrah and Hallelujah!


         Another piece of news today concerns your comments for last week’s posting. I haven’t had time to respond to them, but I will return to responding with this posting and from here on out. I enjoy responding to your comments, which always make me consider new aspects about what I’ve written.

A panoramic view of the Delphi valley in mainland Greece.
         Also, I wanted you all to know that I’ve decided to work this year on a novel that takes place in Bronze Age Greece around 1300 BCE. Last year I wrote 62,000 words of a first draft that is not yet completed. I’m hoping that the first book of this proposed trilogy will be about 70,000 words after it goes through several more drafts and a final polishing. I hope to have the manuscript in good shape by the end of the year. But I will listen to my body. Go with the flow. Live day by day. So nothing here is written in stone.
         Finally, I’m wondering if you have any preferences for what part of my life you’d like to know more about. As I summarized last week,
1.    “Of the years between birth and entering the convent after college graduation, I’ve reconnoitered only my childhood up to sixth grade at St. Mary’s Grade School in Independence, Missouri.”
2.    “I’ve shared with you the convent novitiate years as well as my first two years on mission in Omaha, Nebraska, after making first vows. But there are other stories yet to tell about teaching in Seneca, Baileyville, Atchison, and Kansas City, Kansas.
3.    “Back in 2012, I spent several months posting about getting involved in social justice issues when I was in my thirties. That leaves four decades yet to explore of my life as a single woman who established a career after leaving the convent and then retired to write and enjoy friendship.”
I’d appreciate your commenting and letting me know any preference you might have among these three time periods.
I want to end by thanking all of you for your good wishes last week when I posted about the CTCL appointment. On my birthday I found myself deeply thankful for your continuing and continual support. Peace.

All photographs from Wikipedia.

41 comments:

  1. Happy belated birthday - and some very happy dances that your body is moving into remission. Long may it stay there.
    For myself, I am interested in anything and everything you write. So go with the flow here too.
    Hugs.

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    1. Dear Sue, yes, I'm doing my "rock 'n roll" dance down the hall and into the bedrooms and front room. The cats sit on the bed and divan looking stunned. Bemused perhaps.

      Thanks for the vote of confidence in whatever I write. The going with the flow appeals to me so I could move back and forth among the three periods. Life is good. Peace.

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  2. Count me as a second to EC's comment. I have a little preference about the teaching years, but it's not strong. And what great news about the remission in progress! :-)

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    1. Dear DJan, I enjoy writing about the teaching I did both in the convent and after leaving and so you'll be reading some more about those years. Teaching is, I believe, a calling. And the teacher is privileged to call forth from the students what they don't even know they know. It's a gift in every way. Peace.

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  3. Elephant's Child said it all for me!!

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    1. Dear Fishducky, I think I'm going with Elephant's Child (Sue) and go with the flow. For me that would mean moving back and forth throughout my life except for when a few postings are connected in some way. By the way, the clouds and the sun are playing games with one another today. Overcast, then sunny . . . but warm. So lovely. Peace.

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  4. Dear Dee, Happy Belated Birthday! I'm so glad you had a great time with your friends and for the wonderful remission news. My preference would be to hear about your later years. Number 3. But you are such a wonderful writer and you have lived such a worthwhile life that anything goes for me too.

    And if you want to see the last two of my cats and hear my cat Samantha's story when Sindbad arrived on the scene, today is the day and C is the letter in the A to Z Challenge. C is for Cats! My theme this year is Good Things. Hugs to you!

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    1. Dear Inger, I'm going over to your blog right after I finish responding to these comments. You know I just can't resist a posting on cats!!!

      As to what I'll write, I really haven't covered much of the last 48 years so there's a lot to write about! Peace.

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  5. Dear Dee,

    I am so glad you had a happy birthday. Time spent with friends is truly the best gift.

    I am so happy to hear your good medical news. How I hate to go to the doctor, but when results are positive, it is such a good feeling.

    I love all your stories, and I especially like the ones when you were involved in social justice, although, that has been part of your being all along.

    Take care, dear friend, and keep to your new mantra, "go wit the flow".

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    1. Dear Arlene, thank you for what you said about the way social justice has been with me all along. I've never thought about that but I think it's true because my mom modeled living that way. While alive, she daily helped me develop a moral compass based on becoming an authentic human being. She's been dead now for forty-six years, but she continues to bless my life with her very being. And yes, I am going to stick with that mantra. Peace.

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  6. So glad you had such a lovely birthday. I am also delighted with your great news about remission. How wonderful when treatments actually work and the worry goes away.
    As for your history, I am both interested in your teaching years and those years after the convent. Your early years were quite painful to read about but are necessary to understand the whole person.

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    1. Dear Arkansas Patti, you know, I've never really realized that my postings might be painful for others to read. I have the memory and I work at writing the story in the simplest and most straight-forward way and as I work I'm dealing with the pain and what happens is that through the writing I have come to embrace the whole of my life. I'm realizing from your comment just how grateful I should be because so many of you left comments on postings that must have been painful. Thank you for your support. Peace.

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  7. I vote #2 :)
    I'm so glad everything is going so well for you.
    Yay!

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    1. Dear EC, yes, "everything's coming up roses and daffodils" as the song goes. And I surely will write more about the convent years. Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to read this posting and leave the comment. Peace.

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  8. Happy Birthday and may God bless you and make all your dreams come true. Amen
    Yay for the remission.
    I will be praying for the stubborn spots to be on the mend. Take care of yourself.

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    1. Dear Munir, thanks for all your well wishing and for the prayers. I'm hoping that those spots will cry "Uncle!" and give up the ghost!!! And please take care of yourself also. Peace.

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  9. Sounds like a grand birthday was had, now back to real life huh? lol glad all is going well with the spots too, hopefully they are soon no longer in view

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    1. Dear Pat, yes, I think this birthday was the best celebration I've had since my 65th birthday, when I retired. And the real life I"m returning to is cleaning out my office closet, decluttering, and reorganizing my manuscripts and their varied drafts. Thank you, Pat, for the good wishes about the blotches. Peace.

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  10. I'm sorry, but I can't pick one aspect of your life about which I'd like you to write. You're always interesting. If you choose to write a memoir, I think it should be about your time as a nun because nuns seem mysterious and fascinating to most people. I'm glad your spots are better.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Dear Janie, I think you're right about the memoir being about the convent/nun period of my life. And I think that will happen sometime in the future. But this year . . . it's the Bronze-Age-Greece novel I"m going to pursue. I feel passionate about it. Thanks, Janie, for your continued support of my writing. Peace.

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  11. Great news from the doctor.... Hallelujah!!!!! Congrats on the BOOK... Glad you had a Happy Birthday.

    I enjoy reading anything you write... Your writing skills are fantastic.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. Dear Betsy, thank you for the kind words about my writing. I do so enjoy crafting my life into a number of short stories. The Bronze-Age-Greece manuscript of 62,000 will come together this year and then I'll see if I can find an agent to represent my writing. That would be such a wonder! Peace.

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  12. It sounds like you have a marvelous birthday week, filled with good news and good friends, Dee. My birthday wishes come your way, as well as my hopes for continued progress in your treatments. I don't know about you, but, blogging and journaling and such truly reveal how much life goes into our days, doesn't it?

    You have lead such an interesting, multi-tiered life life, dear Dee, that I am interested, inspired, and learn something in each post you do. Go where your heart and words lead you, my friend.

    PS How exciting about the book's progress.

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    1. Dear Penny, you are so kind to find something interesting and inspiring about my memoir stories. You're really good for my self-confidence! Peace.

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  13. Happy Belated Birthday, Dee. When was your birthday? Mine was March 20th, so I guess I'm wondering if we are both March birthdays. :-) I'm so glad you received good news from he doctor, and let's hope that you soon have no spots at all to give you such concern. I find myself torn about what period of your life I would most want you to share with us. I have enjoyed everything you've previously shared, but also, I would just love to know more about you today! I'd love to know more about what drives you to write, especially with so much research involved in your writing process, and how you spend your days and enjoy your friendships. It's the little things that make you YOU that I find refreshing and you are someone worth knowing, Dee. Write as you feel motivated and just know we all enjoy hearing from you as often as you have the energy and time to share. ox

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    1. Dear Debra, I've thought about writing what's happening in my life today and did most of that on the other blog--the Sunday one, which is now defunct. That was about my writing life. But now that I've ceased to write on the "Writing Craft" blog, I do plan to let readers of this blog know what I'm doing with my writing and why. Thanks for suggesting this and for being interested in my life. Peace.

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  14. Belated birthday greetings. Good news about the skin treatments. I share your good feeling as I know what news like that can mean. Already got the new book in mind. Ambition, ambition... with energy on the run.

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    1. Dear Manzanita, yes, I am ambitious and always have been. I wonder sometimes if that comes from having asthma so badly as a child and having to fight to live. I'm highly motivated to succeed. And the thing is that I set the goal as to how to define success in my life. And sometimes . . . often in fact . . . I make the goal impossibly high. I am such a slow learner with regard to learning to live graciously in all ways. Peace.

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  15. Belated birthday greetings, dear Dee. What wonderful news about the way your skin is responding to treatment. Here's to spring and the approaching end of the hospital visits.

    I'm always fascinated to read about any aspect of your life, but admit to real curiosity about your high school and college years and how you came to feel called to the convent. Wishing you every success with the current writing project.

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    1. Dear Perpetua, I've wondered about what I could post on high school and college. And because the few thoughts I have niggle a little at my mind, wanting entry, I think I will spend some postings on that. Thanks for the suggestion. I hope all is going well with your recuperation. Peace.

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  16. Belated happy birthday. Good news about your skin.. and lovely shot of the crocus shoots.

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    1. Dear Lady Fi, thank you for noticing the crocus shoots. I got the photo from Wikipedia because I'm not a photographer in any sense of the world. Those photographs that you posted today of crocus blooming are astounding! Peace.

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  17. Happy belated birthday! I've been absent a while, but am so thrilled to hear that the light treatments are working and you had company to help you celebrate your birthday. I tend to be someone who writes what I am called to (or, rather, I can't NOT write what knocks on my door in an insistent fashion), and I'll bet you know your prompts as well. That said, I do enjoy reading about your teaching adventures. Your commitment and creativity always make me smile.

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    1. Dear Kari, my teaching was mostly in the convent and then later I taught professional editing. There are some stories there that might be interesting, however. Thanks for the suggestion. Peace.

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  18. Happy birthday and hurray. So glad the light treatment is working so well. I think you have to celebrate with a trip to New York. Please let me know if you plan one. I'd love to meet you. Lunch is on me.

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    1. Dear Carol, I'd love to celebrate with a trip to New York. This year there's something happening--my visits elsewhere or company coming here for almost every month. But maybe next year will be a New York year!!! Thank you for the luncheon invitation. I'll take you up on that! Peace.

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  19. Dear Dee,

    I’ve missed a lot here by staying away from the computer for a while.

    Firstly, belated happy birthday greetings. May there be many more birthdays and all of them well and peaceful.

    I am glad to hear that CTCL is in remission. Any cancer we get over 65 is bound to be a slow growing one; going into remission is an added bonus.

    As for your life stories, they are all interesting. As far as I’m concerned you can go on and on telling me about the various sections, I’ll find them all worth reading; a large part of the interest for me lies in the fact that your life is and has been so very different from mine, and not just because you live on a different continent.

    So carry on as and when you feel up to it.

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    1. Dear Friko, thank you for finding all my stories interesting and worthwhile. I so look forward, as I read your blog--and maybe one day your memoir--to discovering just what you mean by the difference in our lives. I think that humans are mysteries--to ourselves and to one another. Peace.

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  20. Happy Belated Birthday ! When was the happy day – the 27th? (mine was the 26th March.) I am pleased you received many cards (I know I was pleased with the one I received) and the celebration with friends. We celebrated mine with our youngest daughter and family and my next post will be about that. As for your stories, I have enjoyed all of them. I learnt so much from them – not being from a religious background many aspects of your religious upbringing sounded fascinating to me. I’d like to read more of your stories and I would look forward to know your thoughts about the churches you went too, and the people, while you did religious work – I mean the attitudes, the thoughts of the people – where some very strict and others very open to new ideas? What are your ideas about the way the Church treat women as a rule?

    We saw Jimmy Carter yesterday in Atlanta for his book signing of “A call to action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power.” I started to read the book while we were waiting for him to arrive. He shows how men have chosen those segments in religious texts (of all religions) to keep women inferior. Carter is very vocal about having equality for women in all facets of life.

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    1. Dear Vagabonde, you've given me a lot to think about with your comment. I tend to think that all I have to write about is my past, but now I'll think about sharing ideas and opinions and impressions. Thank you. Peace.

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  21. Sounds like you had a good birthday! I'm so late getting here--well, you know how being sick goes. Glad you got fantastic news at the doctors!!!!
    I would listen to any stories you have to tell. :)

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