Grateful 365 #18 – Strength in Numbers

Today’s gratitude has a double meaning. The first in the “many hands make light work” sense, and the second in the “the rope made of many threads is strongest”.

Obvious adage is obvious, of course.

Some friends are moving and that seems to be one of those social events that really brings out the appreciation for teamwork and hand-lending. I could site several different moves here…although most include the same people. A real testament to the selflessness and giving nature of most of my friends.

In most moves, the day begins with what looks like an insurmountable pile of “stuff” in one place and what steadily becomes an arduous trek to another place where it must all end up. However the task usually goes unexpectedly easily as people pitch in and everyone helps out. What would take two people a gazillion years to move alone, takes six people a matter of hours.

It’s numbers. It’s physics. It’s logic.

It’s still awesome, but what’s even better is that there’s a different kind of strength in numbers.

How often have you laughed while undertaking a tough task alone? Probably a number you can count on one hand, right?

Now add just one more person to that task. Not four, not six…just one. One extra person added to your number increases the emotional strength of the two of you exponentially. One extra person can make the most unpleasant task bearable. It can accidents that could leave you standing with your hands thrown up in frustration laughable.

Now add a few more to the same task…

The miracle here? At some point, it stops being a task and starts being a memory. Sure there will still be tough parts, hard parts, unpleasant parts…but together, the strife is shared and filtered through friendship. When one spirit falters, another steels to support it.

It’s a magical, supernatural thing our species seems to do…and watching it happen…being a part of it…is simply breathtaking.

I had a great time today and am grateful I got to be part of this move and these memories.

Most of all though, I’m grateful for strength in numbers.

~all the love~

Hi. My Name is Remy and I Have Cancer.

One thing that a cancer diagnosis is really good at is stealing your motivation.
It’s scary.
It’s unknown.
It’s isolating.
It fills your head with a billion and two possibilities and manages to ensure that none of them are good.
It steals your sleep.
It takes everything pleasant about your normal days and paints them black and white and awful.
It grows mundane worries into towering monsters.
It hates distractions.
It hates being ignored.
It refuses to be denied.

…And this comes from someone who, up until recently, was so in touch with denial-
*wait for it*
– she was nearly an Egyptian citizen.
*ba-dum-psh!*

Seriously though? Jokes aside? Cancer is just as scary as 9 out of 10 movie monsters you see in theatres…and that goes for EVERYBODY around it. It scares the host, it scares their family, their friends…

It’s the boogieman, plain and simple. It doesn’t matter if he’s in the closet or under your bed or in the attic or a million miles away in outer space… Once you hear from an expert that the boogieman is hunting YOU or someone you love, it’s hard to think about much else.

Good news though!
Waiting is one of the hardest part and waiting ends.
The boogeyman is a liar and wears a rubber mask.
Simon and Garfunkel were right; no man is an island.
…and motivation is a hard beast to kill indeed.

 

I guess at this point, it behooves me to introduce myself before I lose you in another convoluted analogy.

Hi~! ^-^ /
My nom de plume is Remy and I love to write, play video games, and pay the bills by teaching swim lessons.
Lately, I’ve been fortunate enough to land a position reporting on anime conventions for SpaceGypsies.com. For the first time ever, I’ve been able to attend some of my favorite events as “press”!
It’s a step closer to my dream of finally becoming a “writer”– someone with the ability to capture other people’s imaginations with the product of their own.
I’m a linguaphile, can be incredibly silly, and, despite my love of dark concepts and humor, generally have a pretty sunny outlook. (At least I like to think so!)
I have great faith, a wonderful family, rewarding work, amazing friends, and two pets that mewl and came with a box for poo.
I also happen to have recently been diagnosed with cancer.

I just got through my first session of ABVD chemotherapy and it’s only now, on day 4 of treatment, that I have the motivation and ability to begin this journal.

Why?

It’s mostly selfish.
Writing is a coping mechanism for me, and I am still scared as hell.
The author is never the victim…
(…except in Stranger than Fiction and Misery…and ….sort…of in Secret Window, Secret Garden? Actually King tends to make authors the antagonists, but I digress. Another topic for another time.)
…and thinking through a keyboard puts me in a different state of mind.

However, as green as I am to all of this, and selfish reasons aside- I would feel better if these words helped.
If they help someone understand what a loved one is going through.
If they help someone approach treatment with a better idea of what to expect.
If my ridiculousness can help produce a smile in a dark time.
I have already found SO much comfort in the experience and knowledge of others myself, and can only offer my best as I’m still a newbie myself.
I’m no doctor. I’m no example. I’m no worst case or best case or expert or veteran. All I can promise is honesty and an effort to check my sources when source checking is involved.

I’m just me, wannabe writer Remyelle, and I have cancer–lymphoma to be exact.

Actually, to say  “lymphoma” is not exact by any means, but we can get to that in a minute.