October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Actual Dance tells a story of MY journey in response to Susan’s diagnosis of stage 3 breast cancer in 2000
In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month I post a blog each day with a reflection about breast cancer. The reflections all stem from something in the play. (All quotes are from lines in the play).
Day 20: The Ballroom. “All of a sudden I am standing the center of a grand ballroom. I am not quite sure where I am in relation to everything else that is here. At first I think it is a nightmare, but I am not asleep. A daydream? It sits empty I am the only one here.”
Yesterday I talked about not wanting to be with Susan in the hospital room as she was going through the worst of the post-surgery reactions. Holding out a metal pan for her to vomit. Helping her to get up to go to the bathroom. While I did not “want to be there” I said—and the line in the play is: “I don’t know where else I could possibly be.”
The truth was that I did know, I just didn’t know that I knew: The Ballroom.
The Ballroom is a place that exists in another dimension of time and space. I was able to escape to that place as needed. I didn’t consciously say “take me to the Ballroom.” Rather, as news changed, as I become convinced that I was going to have to do something I could not imagine doing, I would find myself in that sacred place.
The Ballroom was the place where I was going to be with Susan as we would dance our favorite dance (a waltz) to our favorite song (Unchained Melody) as she would take her final breath and simply disappear from my arms.
I have come to believe that The Ballroom exists for all of us in some way. It is where we go when we face the existential questions in our own lives. It is the “place within us and around us where angels sing on rays of light and love pours forth from the heart of the universe.” (Heart of the Universe, Snatam Kaur and Peter Kater)
Stat of the Day: Belgium has the highest percentage of women living 5 years after diagnosis of their breast cancer. There are 3.2 million women living in developed countries more than five years after their breast cancer. This according to the World Cancer Research Fund International.
Task of the Day: What is your Ballroom? Talking about or even acknowledging that there is a “place” we go and feel as a sacred moment is difficult? Do you go to Church or Synagogue? Is it in bed, dream like? Write it down. Talk to someone about it.
Resource of the Day: A wonderful web site by Jeanine Walton called Healing Now with a lot of information about spirituality and imagery
The Actual Dance: Performances. Donate.
In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month I post a blog each day with a reflection about breast cancer. The reflections all stem from something in the play. (All quotes are from lines in the play).
Day 20: The Ballroom. “All of a sudden I am standing the center of a grand ballroom. I am not quite sure where I am in relation to everything else that is here. At first I think it is a nightmare, but I am not asleep. A daydream? It sits empty I am the only one here.”
Yesterday I talked about not wanting to be with Susan in the hospital room as she was going through the worst of the post-surgery reactions. Holding out a metal pan for her to vomit. Helping her to get up to go to the bathroom. While I did not “want to be there” I said—and the line in the play is: “I don’t know where else I could possibly be.”
The truth was that I did know, I just didn’t know that I knew: The Ballroom.
The Ballroom is a place that exists in another dimension of time and space. I was able to escape to that place as needed. I didn’t consciously say “take me to the Ballroom.” Rather, as news changed, as I become convinced that I was going to have to do something I could not imagine doing, I would find myself in that sacred place.
The Ballroom was the place where I was going to be with Susan as we would dance our favorite dance (a waltz) to our favorite song (Unchained Melody) as she would take her final breath and simply disappear from my arms.
I have come to believe that The Ballroom exists for all of us in some way. It is where we go when we face the existential questions in our own lives. It is the “place within us and around us where angels sing on rays of light and love pours forth from the heart of the universe.” (Heart of the Universe, Snatam Kaur and Peter Kater)
Stat of the Day: Belgium has the highest percentage of women living 5 years after diagnosis of their breast cancer. There are 3.2 million women living in developed countries more than five years after their breast cancer. This according to the World Cancer Research Fund International.
Task of the Day: What is your Ballroom? Talking about or even acknowledging that there is a “place” we go and feel as a sacred moment is difficult? Do you go to Church or Synagogue? Is it in bed, dream like? Write it down. Talk to someone about it.
Resource of the Day: A wonderful web site by Jeanine Walton called Healing Now with a lot of information about spirituality and imagery
The Actual Dance: Performances. Donate.
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