The Actual Dance as a play presents the events of the year 2000 from my point of view as the spouse of the woman going through breast cancer. Now, seventeen years later, it is apparent that I did not fully understand how deeply the experience impacted me. It took me 12 years to write the story, so to speak, and the last nearly 5 years I have been telling it through performances of the play. Every October I blog daily to help in raising awareness and to share elements of the story that I hope are of value to those who read these blogs. (All quoted lines are text from the play.)
DAY 26: Existential Moments: “That was in 1973, I have since come to understand that life exists in each of us in a tangible form, and that the essence of who we are beyond the physical body exists”
Hearing the words: “You have cancer.” is an existential moment. Any time you begin to realize that your life or that of someone you love may end, you have an “existential experience” or “moment.” The year 2000 with Susan was full of those moments. My first experience though was in 1973, as I stood in the hospital room next to my mother, Frieda Alfman Simon, as she took her last breath as the result of her breast cancer.
"It was the first time ever I experienced the super-natural,” is the line in the play as I re-enact the moment in 1973. “I was afraid because I thought I had … seen something I was not supposed to be able to see.” I experienced … saw … a white tuft of a cloud, a giant swirl which rocketed past me out of the hospital room at the speed of light at the very instant of my mother’s last breath.
I was privileged to experience that life force exit my mother at her last breath. Even now as I write this I remember that moment and continue to understand that experience as it was – a unique privilege.
Indeed, that is in some ways what The Actual Dance is all about. An Existential Moment. Getting ready to be with someone you love as they take their last breath. How do you do that? Answer tomorrow.
Stat of the Day: According to a poll conducted in late 2012, 45% of people believe that spirits of our loved ones can come back and interact with us in certain situations. USA Today published an article on October 25, 2017 with additional stats on the numbers of people who believe in spirits.
Task of the Day: Rent the movie Ghost and watch it, again and again and again. This is actually a homework assignment. A test will follow in ensuing posts.
Resource of the Day: Check out Attitudinal Healing International. I learned that finding ways to express our deepest thoughts is not easy. There are places to go where some of those deep, “crazy” thoughts are welcomed.
The Actual Dance: Performances. Donate.
DAY 26: Existential Moments: “That was in 1973, I have since come to understand that life exists in each of us in a tangible form, and that the essence of who we are beyond the physical body exists”
Hearing the words: “You have cancer.” is an existential moment. Any time you begin to realize that your life or that of someone you love may end, you have an “existential experience” or “moment.” The year 2000 with Susan was full of those moments. My first experience though was in 1973, as I stood in the hospital room next to my mother, Frieda Alfman Simon, as she took her last breath as the result of her breast cancer.
"It was the first time ever I experienced the super-natural,” is the line in the play as I re-enact the moment in 1973. “I was afraid because I thought I had … seen something I was not supposed to be able to see.” I experienced … saw … a white tuft of a cloud, a giant swirl which rocketed past me out of the hospital room at the speed of light at the very instant of my mother’s last breath.
I was privileged to experience that life force exit my mother at her last breath. Even now as I write this I remember that moment and continue to understand that experience as it was – a unique privilege.
Indeed, that is in some ways what The Actual Dance is all about. An Existential Moment. Getting ready to be with someone you love as they take their last breath. How do you do that? Answer tomorrow.
Stat of the Day: According to a poll conducted in late 2012, 45% of people believe that spirits of our loved ones can come back and interact with us in certain situations. USA Today published an article on October 25, 2017 with additional stats on the numbers of people who believe in spirits.
Task of the Day: Rent the movie Ghost and watch it, again and again and again. This is actually a homework assignment. A test will follow in ensuing posts.
Resource of the Day: Check out Attitudinal Healing International. I learned that finding ways to express our deepest thoughts is not easy. There are places to go where some of those deep, “crazy” thoughts are welcomed.
The Actual Dance: Performances. Donate.
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