Cancer Sucks

Cancer sucks…. there isn’t a nice way to put it.  I believe it has touched everyone in different ways and it continues to effect families and lives daily.  It surrounds us and some days I am just overcome by the hurt this thing “cancer” causes.  Over the last two months I have tried to put into words how much it hurts but I just haven’t found the right words.  However, today as I checked my Timehop I was given this sweet memory and the reminder to live in the dash.  So I thought I would share some of my thoughts with you sweet friends!

This is a picture from one year ago when we laid my sweet friend Ryan to rest.  This was a sweet day of remembering her and while getting to send her sweet messages.  While sitting there listening to the pastor talk I was taken back and reminded of something important.  He spoke of Ryan, the journey she had been on but then he said, “we must live life in the dash”.  The “dash” was the moments in between birth and death... we must live life, showed up for one another, serve one another, and the list goes on.  This “dash” was something I had heard before but I had never really reflected on it.  I immediately jumped in my mind to everything Ryan and I had done together… Dance, Girl Scouts, Crafting, Spring Break shopping trips, College and many other exciting things.  I wondered to myself were those memories she cherished like I did and was I a good friend to her.  As I continued to reflect I thought about her dash and everything that went into it.  She touched so many lives until the end and showed many just how life should be lived. 

Since that day I have continued to think of the dash and reflect on what mine would look like.  Will people know me for who I am? What will I do to portray the love of Christ to others?  How can I follow God’s plan for my life? All of those questions have taught me to live alittle differently.  The last two years of Ryan’s life were hard, she never took things seriously and lived it up as much as she could.  I watched her stand strong on some of her weakest days but she never once gave up.  She taught me what a true fighter looks like and how to have hope and faith beyond measure.  

Thanks Ryan for showing me how to live in the dash, have faith, hope and strength  I love you and miss you daily.