It has been too long

I am closing in on two years from the day of my diagnosis.  Cancer has left its ugly, dirty, indelible mark on my heart and body.  It has affected my life, but it is not my life.  God has chosen to allow this horrid disease to invade my body for a time.  What He has done since then has blown me away. He again has shown me that He is so much bigger than anything that comes against me.  Cancer has reminded me that God’s plan is perfect and good despite pain and sadness.  Cancer has effected a change of perspective.
My crew and I took a mini vaca in between Christmas and New Year’s Day.   This past September we bought a travel trailer, and we have managed to get away a few times already.  This was our longest trip to date with seven of our kids. Choosing to camp with a trailer load of people sounds absurd to many, but it sounds perfect to us.  Cancer robbed me of about a year and a half of my life.  Today is a gift.  Tomorrow is not a given.  Our window of opportunity is small.
Now, mind you, I do not take on the eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die perspective.  However, there is something to be said about taking advantage of what today brings.  Every momma would tell you not to blink.  Kids grow too fast.
As I am a teacher-mom of many, I can get very easily overwhelmed with the must do’s.  Camping gives all of us a chance to breathe and take in life a little differently.  Of course it is a tad easier when kids can explore, hike, and stay up a bit later.  When we get back to the books, it will be like pulling teeth to be sure.
For five days we celebrated the New Year camping style.  We played games.  We grilled.  We enjoyed yummy appetizers.  We watched some old TV shows.  We hiked.  We swam.  We played basketball.  We colored. We talked. We enjoyed family.
My family laughs when they stop to think of Mom camping.  If you would have asked me about ten years ago if I would LOVE camping, I would have laughed too.  Making the choice to invest both financially in a travel trailer and daily in my family is a perspective change that makes me smile.
I will always struggle with what cancer has done,  but I am grateful for what I am learning.