An Average Jane Book Review

Breast cancer. It's something I didn't think a lot about for much of my life. Then one day when I was working at a small interactive firm, the creative director came up to my desk and said, "How do you feel about breast cancer survivors?"

My response: "I'm in favor of them."

That conversation led to an assignment to interview more than a half-dozen breast cancer survivors so that we could share their stories on the Lee National Denim Day website.

The experience was eye-opening. The stories had some similarities, but not as many as you would think for a group of women in the same metropolitan area. One common thread: they were all fighters who wanted to do whatever they could to prevent other women from going through what they had.

At the last Chicago BlogHer conference in 2007, I had the good fortune to meet Laurie Kingston. I'm not sure where our paths first crossed, but I remember having a meal with her and Susan Getgood (and someone else, too. Suebob? Jane?).

I knew that her blog was called "Not Just About Cancer" and that her supportive friends and family had gotten her the BlogHer trip in the midst of her cancer treatments.

I started reading her blog as soon as I got home. It's a wonderful personal journal that really is about her entire life, not just about the breast cancer that she continues to fight.

I was excited when she announced that she was having a book published. It's called "Not Done Yet: Living Through Breast Cancer" and what impresses me most is that it really is about living. Yes, there's a disease and treatments that get in the way, but that doesn't mean she's stopped doing fun things with her family and friends, knitting, playing online Scrabble (sometimes with me!) and otherwise carrying on with her life.

She readily admits that not every day is a good one, but she's capable of letting that go and moving on. She respects her own limits and takes care of herself to ensure that she can also take care of her family.

The book was a quick but absorbing read. The one time I did put it down, I came back to find that Velvet and Velcro (herself a breast cancer survivor), had taken an interest.

Toward the end of the book there were a few paragraphs that I remembered fondly from her blog because I'd posted them to my blog before as a wonderful example of an attitude toward life to strive for:

One morning, as I was making school lunches, I dropped a piece of cheese on my dog's head. I had been slicing it onto sandwiches and had turned to talk to my older son. Multitasking before sufficient caffeine intake has never been my strong suit.

Now, whenever I am making lunches, the dog dances with excitement, his eyes sparkling with hope and joyful anticipation.

I want to live my life like that. Life is good, and you never know when cheese might fall from the sky.

That's how I want to live my life, too, Laurie!

Comments

[Cheri]

The author Elizabeth Berg (I think it is her), has a great dedication in one of her books. She dedicates her book to one of her friends, who I believe recently passed away. When she asked him what the greatest gift he could receive would be, he said, "you know how cats dance sideways?" She said, yes. He said, "that's it." I've always loved that...and this post about cheese falling from the sky gives me the same feeling of how to find joy.

[Katie Freiberg]

Love the blog! I'd like to pick up the book. I would like to keep that mentality in mind each day... dancing sideways like a cat and waiting for the cheese to fall!

[Keith]

Where cancer of any sort is concerned, I think the hard pill to swallow is when you are told you've got it. My kidney adventure has taught me that.

[May]

What a great philosophy! I love it!

[Blondie]

Laurie sent me a copy of the book and I read it in one swoop. It has taught me a whole new way to think about cancer--not as a horrible demon monster, but as something you actually CAN live with. You just have to choose to keep living. It was wonderful...

[laurie]

Thanks so much for this lovely review. I really hope we connect at BlogHer again this year! (and yay for velcro!)

[Rozanne]

Excellent post! I didn't know that Velcro was a breast cancer survivor.