Chateau de la Tobler

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Living

I am scarcely scratching the surface of life.

Recently, I listened to a couple of woman describing their bouts with cancer and wished I understood more about Daddy's experience, wished I'd talked to him more about it when he was still here. All around me, people are living with that horror. Joni, the other fifth grade teacher at Rockrimmon, quietly leaves her classroom at lunch to attend chemo treatments and returns every morning to 29 fifth graders all who need her attention. A sister in my institute class is going in Wednesday to have a peculiarly placed tumor removed. She will then wait a week to find out if it is cancer or not. She has young children.

Lives being lived by heroes who are under the assumption they are ordinary people.

I just finished a book on the experiences of a woman who adopted one girl from Russia and another from the Ukraine. I realized as I read that I truly do not understand what Kaylene and Steve went through to adopt Christina and Mike- not if their experiences were at all similar to those of this author. The kind of emotional roller coaster that must have been- and still is- amazes me. Why did it not amaze me before?

I suddenly have no adequate words for life.

I have always thought, when you are introduced to a new subject, it takes a while before you understand enough to ask questions. I was wrong. I have waited too long to ask and in doing so have lost so much. There is a richness, an abundance to living I have not been taking advantage of. There are so many quiet people who live extraordinary lives.

So, I am anxious to learn.

Tell me about your life?