Yep, it's My Birthday

This is one of those rare occasions where I will look back a bit farther than I usually do.
I am one of those Satchell Paige ("Don't look back..etc..") believers.
That said, what better time than one's b-day - other than New Year's eve, maybe - to talk about perspective....?

A year ago at this time, I was frantically running between daily visits to my mother in intensive care, and trying to hang onto a part-time job. My nerves were shot, I was really, really broke, and feeling isolated and overwhelmed.

A few months later, I had not even begun to grieve fully the loss of my mother, and was trying to find my feet as the only Anglo French teacher at a small private school.

That's when I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma.

Christmas was a bust. For the first time, my lovely apartment felt very very small, as I felt trapped during home confinement while recovering from a skin graft....not that I wasn't acutely aware and amazed they got all the cancer cells in time, mind you.

So today, on my latest birthday, there is much to celebrate: I am

- walking, talking, smiling (sometimes simultaneously !);

- sipping on a Tim's (if you're a Canuck, you know what I mean) - thanks for the gift card, Auntie Vi;

- being treated to yet another lunch and dinner, each with a different good friend. There have been many such meals, of late, which tells me that I have established a good circle of friends in this small town of mine;

- planning Mum's yahrzeit - that's a whole story in itself, of new angels in my life.

And last but least....I am amazed at the grace that is constantly insinuating itself into my life....wow!