October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Actual Dance is, among many different things, about breast cancer. It is also about love. It is also about relationships. It is also about spirituality and what life really is. It is about a lot of things.
In October in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness I will post a daily blog with a reflection about breast cancer. The reflections will stem from something in the play. (All quoted lines are text from the play.)
Day 26: Talking to Someone. “I need to talk to someone,” I realize after we find the lump on Susan’s chest. I am walking around the house “early on the Sunday morning after we found the lump, wondering what it is going to be like being alone.” I admit that those Sunday mornings were the times I tended to get sad and depressed, because Susan was still upstairs asleep and didn’t see me. Among the scariest moments for people who face the loss of a longtime partner is facing the prospect of “being alone.” Being alone is not merely the fact of living a solitary life in a house that was once filled with family and a spouse; it is also sense of being alone in the universe, of having lost “the other half of my whole.” (See Day 18) In performing the show one of the most frequent comments I hear from people who have lost their mates is about the “silence” of early mornings. I realized the need to talk and it was through the talking I found the ultimate peace with the journey that I would need. It was not easy though. It did not work the first time.
Stat of the Day: Susan and I went on our first date in 1964 --- 50 years ago.
Task of the Day: Talk to someone with cancer or who is in a relationship with someone with cancer. If that is you, then talk to someone about how you are feeling. Your ear can be the miracle drug of someone’s sadness and fear. As can someone’s ear be yours. And don’t be afraid to call a professional or join a support group.
Resource of the Day: The American Psychosocial Oncology Society has an information and referral help line: 1-866-276-7443.
In October in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness I will post a daily blog with a reflection about breast cancer. The reflections will stem from something in the play. (All quoted lines are text from the play.)
Day 26: Talking to Someone. “I need to talk to someone,” I realize after we find the lump on Susan’s chest. I am walking around the house “early on the Sunday morning after we found the lump, wondering what it is going to be like being alone.” I admit that those Sunday mornings were the times I tended to get sad and depressed, because Susan was still upstairs asleep and didn’t see me. Among the scariest moments for people who face the loss of a longtime partner is facing the prospect of “being alone.” Being alone is not merely the fact of living a solitary life in a house that was once filled with family and a spouse; it is also sense of being alone in the universe, of having lost “the other half of my whole.” (See Day 18) In performing the show one of the most frequent comments I hear from people who have lost their mates is about the “silence” of early mornings. I realized the need to talk and it was through the talking I found the ultimate peace with the journey that I would need. It was not easy though. It did not work the first time.
Stat of the Day: Susan and I went on our first date in 1964 --- 50 years ago.
Task of the Day: Talk to someone with cancer or who is in a relationship with someone with cancer. If that is you, then talk to someone about how you are feeling. Your ear can be the miracle drug of someone’s sadness and fear. As can someone’s ear be yours. And don’t be afraid to call a professional or join a support group.
Resource of the Day: The American Psychosocial Oncology Society has an information and referral help line: 1-866-276-7443.
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