It seems strange in a way, to think of my mother as one of my best friends. When we got over just being mother and daughter and I started looking at her as a real person with a real life (other than just being my mother), we were able to become friends starting about 30 years ago.
We slip into old parent-child patterns still, but the friendship continues to grow. I am amazed at her abilities and skills, and encouraged by her outlook on life. She is the most open person I know. She actively seeks adventure and new experiences and has the unique ability to constantly challenge her own assumptions, even when it's uncomfortable. She has zest, and she is interesting and interested in everything around her. It was great just being around her.
Mom introduced me to Mary (whom she met on the plane coming to TN), who introduced me to Val Donna and Gail. We spent a wonderful afternoon just chatting and sharing experiences. Once again, I am reminded that there will be an end to the immediacy of dealing with Breast Cancer. There is life after, life beyond, and this experience will fade, just as the pains and inconveniences and scars do with time. Whatever our place or time, we are all warriors, but we do get to go home after our battles and resume something that resembles a full and normal life.
Younger or older, unique yet somehow connected, all of us get touched and tested by this experience, either ourselves or through our friends. Our partners, our children and our parents go through it too, each in his or her own way. We are changed, and we are still here, picking our way through a minefield of emotions, finding a path and living well, despite the uncertainties of the future.
"You're going to be just fine," Mom and these lovely ladies told me. I am so proud to call them my friends and I believe them.
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