Oh My..... A Good Place To End this Journey.

June 17, 2004 was the beginning of what has been a long arduous trek though the Cancer World Mountains.  12 years ago.  Half of Mary-Elizabeth's life.  She is going to enter her 24th year in a day or so. It is time to let that new chapter not be about Cancer World. 

She was 12 when diagnosed.  Seems like such a long long time ago.  Seems so unfair and so sad and yet her last 12 years have been astonishing.  Mary-Elizabeth has grown into a special and amazing young woman with a deep understanding of the universe.  She is kind and loving and has suffered more loss than most her age.  

Many of her contemporaries have said good-bye to Grand Parents, even parents.  Few have had little people in their lives dies long horrible deaths. Few have drawn unicorns with five year old and not been able to build Legos with them a year later.  Few have seen contemporaries die. Few have had end-of-life discussions with their parents. Few have mentioned what needs to happen at their funeral. 

It is time to put Cancer in the back seat for a bit.  Find the future path. Find the place where plans can be made.  Try to learn how to say;  "next year" we will.......  

The writing will not stop.  It will reform in another universe.  It is therapeutic for me to put words on paper.  If they are on paper, they can be revisited when necessary.  Sort of like a dictionary.  It holds the words.  I don't have to memorize everything.  I can have a place, a basket, a drawer, a special mountain top, a piece of beach for things to reside. 

Mary-Elizabeth Sierra Lanham is a fully functioning human being with a bright future. 

She is leaving Cancer World Today.  I will be the repository and the guard.  She can move forward with only good things in her life. 

The END.... a good ending.