July 24, 2023

As I was catching up on my weekly phone call with my best friend last week I thought to myself, how much I adore these conversations each week and how much these weekly conversations kept me grounded as I was going through my cancer journey, but the more I thought about it, I realized it was these conversations that kept me grounded during some of the most difficult moments of my life, in fact, too many moments to name.  You see, through all of it, our conversations never changed.  We connect once a week and we are usually on the phone for a minimum of an hour and often an hour and a half to two hours.  We talk about everything – and I mean everything and usually exchange a picture or two through text messages which are usually a new purse, or a pair of shoes that we saw, or think would be better on the other one, or anything really.  It’s these moments and these conversations that helped me to feel like my life was still normal, when honestly, it wasn’t, in fact, it was the opposite of normal, most of the time it felt like it was someone else’s life and not mine.  It’s these conversations that kept me grounded and able to move forward into the next week.

For the past week I’ve been thinking about what I would share in this blog and with my “brainstorming” I realized that there are many things that allow me to feel grounded.   My weekly phone conversations are just one thing that keeps me grounded, but there are other things as well such as my husband, my family, music, my dogs, my work, rides on my Harley, and I’m sure there are a lot of other things too.   

Let’s start with music.  We all know that music can transport you back to a time in your life and bring back magical memories.  Music can also remind you of something sad and painful that may have happened in your life.  It’s always great when you can listen to a song, or an artist, that makes your spirit soar, and your heartbeat just a little bit faster.  For those of you that know me and I mean really know me, you know that my absolutely most favorite artist is P!NK.  Her music has helped me through so many different monumental moments in my life.  She helped me through my dating life, my previous divorce, my cancer journey, and more.  What some of you may not know is that I have other favorite artist that fill my soul in different times and moments of my life.  One of my favorite jazz bands (and albums) is The Rippington’s, Weekend in Monaco.  Just listening to that album takes me back to moments with a special person who introduced them to me.  That album also reminds me of laying out in my patio at my first home with the wind blowing and the album playing.  Mercy Me is another band that lifts my soul.  When I play the album “Lifer” I am reminded of how blessed I am to be a Christian and to not be walking any of the moments in my life alone.  I am reminded that I am “Flawless”.  I mean, come on, my kids grew up knowing that “I Can Only Imagine” was the song I wanted played at my memorial and each time it came on the radio they would shout, “Hey, Mom, it’s your death song.”  Then there is also the faithful Country Music that I love.  I have so many favorite artists – too many to name and I’m sure you don’t have the time for your eyes to bleed as a share all of them.

Then there are movies.  We all have our favorite movies, don’t we?  You know the movie that you have seen a million times and know it by heart and yet, every time you are flipping through the channels and see that it’s on, you stop what you are doing, sit down thinking, “I’ll only watch a couple of minutes of this” and then an hour or more later you are watching the end credits scroll through the screen.  For me, that movie is The Blind Side.  I don’t know how many times I have watched that movie, or a part of that movie, and yet, if it was on the television today, I would stay up till midnight, if that’s what it took to finish the movie. 

So, let me ask you, what do you do to feel grounded?  Is there a movie you love, and artist that you move mountains to listen to when your heart is hurting, and you need to be lifted?  Is there a person that you talk to consistently?  Are there multiple people?  Is there a book, an animal, a place, a drive?  Whatever it is for you, or whoever it is for you, just know that you are blessed to have found that person, that movie, or that song.  Also know that you are blessed that this book, animal, place, or person can almost instantly change the space of where you are in your life, hopefully making things better.

I know that I am beyond blessed to have such an amazing support system and so many special people in my life who will never, ever, truly understand how they have touched my life.  I was, and continue to be loved, lifted, prayed for, checked on and covered in a way that I never expected during my cancer journey.  Now that I am on the other side of that I have realized that I’ve had these amazing people around me all along.  The cancer journey just opened my eyes to exactly how many people I am thankful for.  Look around you, don’t take the things that keep you grounded for granted, if there hasn’t been a day that you needed these things, there will be.  Take time to be thankful for all your blessings, the ones you know, and the ones that you have yet to realize.

Xo,

Tracy