It took my ability to run, and makes walking agony.
I can't sit in a chair - can't lean back - so I sit on the floor, and it makes getting up more painful than sometimes it seems worth the doing.
It steals the taste of food,and the ability to keep it down.
It steals any grace at the dunny. Don't ask.
It hijacks speech; when I try to talk I need an interpreter, because my words come out kinda jumbled. Fortunately, Barbara has an English-Gibberish dictionary.
It messes with your hearing. Recently I heard a preacher on TV say that everyone needs a senseless porpoise.
Wow, I thought. Where am I going to keep a big and really stupid fish?
Later, on my query, Barbara cleared it up (careful, sweetie, if you roll your eyes like that they'll lock).
Sense. Of. Purpose.
Oh. Got it.
Cancer took away my career, and takes away all those years I was looking forward to living.
But there's something it can't take away.
Dancing.
See, you don't dance with your feet.
You dance with your heart, and that's one place cancer will never win.
Oh, and if you're wondering what a hardass ex-mercenary is doing with a song like Abba's Dancing Queen as the theme to the blog...
Well, duh. I'm dancing.
Please pardon my slow response to comments. I do my best, and your comments are really precious to me. Barb is answering many of them now. I'm running on fumes, if you don't mind a macho metaphor.
I'm grateful for the energy to have written this. I'm so glad Barbara's stepped in for many of my posts. I'm really not doing well at all.
Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.
Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.
Marley update... been moved to a sanctuary, and Bay County will revise their 'dangerous dog' codes.
WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!
And marley has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.
If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.
Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.
Andrew, I am so glad that cancer cannot steal your dancing! We lost my BIL 9 months ago after a lengthy battle with cancer and he listened to music to the end. So I have to agree with you. Keep dancing friend! Praying for you and Barb tonight.
ReplyDeleteJoanne, I'm so sorry for your loss, but so glad you had music!
DeleteWe're so grateful for the prayers. This is really hard. But I'll keep dancing.
Andrew I was born with two left feet. Never could I dance, but in my head and heart, yes! And when alone.,,
ReplyDeleteI don't wish cancer on anyone, seen a lot of it, but when it strips everything away, it exposes what is at the core that perhaps you never knew was there. You give so much I bet in ways you never would otherwise. You are such a blessing!
Mary, thank you so much for this. Heartfelt comments like yours give me so much strength, so much hope!
DeleteAndrew, I'm so glad you are still dancing in your heart! And I love the song. Love and hugs to you and yours!
ReplyDeleteGayl, thank you so much, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the song!
DeleteLove and hugs back, rom both of us. And the dogs, too.
Keep dancing! Thanks for the reminder that the suffering on the outside can't steal the peace and joy that lives on the inside.
ReplyDeleteBethany, I sure will...the worse it hurts, the higher leaps the heart.
DeleteAnd amidst the flames, peace, for they can't touch me.
this may not feel like "the time of your life" but your flame is certainly burning brightly today. thank you for continuing to dance!
ReplyDeleteJennifer, thank you so much for this, and please pardon my tardy reply.
DeleteYour sense of humor is intact. And everyone really does need a senseless porpoise. I mean, com'on. xo
ReplyDeleteSusan, with all the dogs...I guess we can make room for a senseless porpoise. Sorry to be so late in replying!
Delete{{{XOXOXOWaggyWaggyWOOF!}}}
Hi Andrew. Blessings on you. I pray God will lessen the pain.
ReplyDeleteNorma, my dear friend, thank you so much...and please forgive my late reply!
DeleteThis. Is. BEAUTIFUL.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't want that senseless porpoise, I'll take it... it could be my porpoise in life.
:D
Keep that dance going, Andrew! And the humor!
Diana, thank you so much!
DeleteLooks like the senseless porpoise will be staying - Barb has taken quite a shine to him - but he does have a brother...
And please excuse my late reply!
T'm sure you'll never stop dancing!
ReplyDeleteJan, you're right. I'll never stop.
DeleteAnd please pardon my tardy response!
Yes, keep on dancing! I love a bit of Abba!
ReplyDeleteLesley, I'm delighted we share that appreciation! Dance on!
DeleteAnd please excuse my late reply.
Hi Andrew. Do you know who Joni Eareckson Tada is? She's been paralyzed from the neck down since she was 17. She says she will spend hundreds of years dancing in heaven. And your reference to porpoises reminds me of my years of living in Santa Barbara, California. How I loved walking along the beach just as the sun was coming up and watching the dolphins dance in the waves. I always said that in heaven I will dance with them. Joni says she will join me. Want us to include you? ~ Kay
ReplyDeleteKay, I sure do know of Joni! She's long been a hero of mine, though I've never had the honour of meeting her. And yes, I'd be glad to join y'all, dancing with the dolphins...and I lived in SB as well!
DeletePlease pardon my delay in replying; tough days.
Dance away, Andrew. Dance away. (You be tap dancing and cuttin' some rug, on that ol' Wormwood's head!) .... [and if by chance you know the movie "Signs" this idea of "Dance away" made me think of the movie's quote"Swing away!" which basically was saying, "time to whoop up on your enemy".................... and you are pulverizing him, Andrew. You are fighting the good fight: placing your gold in our hearts. Praying relief. Praying boat loads of grace and peace.
ReplyDeleteJane, 'Signs' is one of my favourite films, and I love the connexion you made to 'swing away'.
DeleteI so appreciate the prayers, and ask your pardon for the lateness of this reply.
Andrew, your sense of humor and your heart are transparent in this post. LOVE it. And yes, though we may not always be able to dance physically, we can always dance in our hearts. That cannot be taken from us.
ReplyDeletePraying for you as you dance, my friend! Oh yes, and now this song is running through my head. Thanks for that . . . I think. ;)
Jeanne, thank you for this, and please pardon my delay in replying.
DeleteAnd thank you so much for the prayers...and you're welcome, for the mental track of Dancing Queen!
Maybe we do need a senseless porpoise. It might make us pause and think harder about the choices we make. :). May your soul continue to dance Andrew.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, that...and a senseless porpoise might just be a lot of fun! Thank you so much for being here, and please accept my apology for the tardiness of my reply.
DeleteAnd you, Andrew... Cancer can't take you. Because even in the midst of the suffering and pain (and although we have never personally met), I can still hear YOU. The wisdom. The humor. The wit. The struggle. The fight. The victory. I hear you (and Him) reminding that everyone needs a senseless porpoise.
ReplyDeleteTondra, thank you so very, very much for this...you made my day, and yes, we all need a senseless porpoise. I'll bet Jesus has several!
DeleteAnd please pardon my late reply.
Right, Andrew...cancer - ANY illness - does steal a lot!! But it cannot steal your heart, and your dancing!!! LOVE this selection of music...coincidentally, I watched Mamma Mia last night, with the lyrics shown, and sang along with every one of the songs!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your words and making me smile, thinking back on the movie, this song and all the others, and especially on the many smiles you have brought to others with your words, inspiring us all no matter what we may be going through.
HUGS, BIG ones!! And PRAYERS, MANY of them!!!
Barbara, that I could make you smile...that's such a privilege, and it's a huge boost to my joy. Thank you for letting me know!
DeleteHugs and prayers are so appreciated! (And please pardon my delay in replying.)
A comment made me think of this that I have written in the front of my B-i-b-l-e, and yes, you have to spell it, like the song does. Ha. Anyway, it's this: "When we are gradually stripped of everything that props us up- whether wealth, independence, health, dignity, beauty, or all of the above- we are left with more and more of God." Not sure who wrote it or where I found it.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, just thought I'd share that. And also, as you think of heaven, can I ask, what are you most looking forward to? Or like your top 5 bestest excitements of it? Just something ive been thinking about. Or ignore me if that's not cool to ask. Hugs to you two. Jesus loves you. -Emily
Emily, I love that quote! Thank you so much for sharing it - it's so true, at least for me, that the more I've lost the more of God I'e seen, and I'm happy with that. Wouldn't trade back.
DeleteAnd thinking of heaven...seeing those who've gone on ahead, and whom I've missed in this life with a ferocity that does not bear telling.
Hugs appreciated! And please forgive the lateness of the reply.
This post made me smile! I love Abba. I hate that you are in pain but am thankful that you are still with us. I'm in the 57 spot this week.
ReplyDeleteTara, I'm so glad you enjoyed this! I'm not thrilled with the pain, but glad to be still here. (And please excuse the delay in my reply.)
DeleteI love the dancing in your heart analogy! This is great encouragement for me to dance in my heart too with the chronic pain of Fibromyalgia!
ReplyDeleteThank you Andrew!
Jennifer
Oh, Jennifer...I'm so sorry about the fibro, I've had friends with that, and it really suck. You're in my prayers, truly.
DeleteBut keep on dancing...joy trumps pain!
Thanks so much for being here, and please pardon my tardy reply!
you have the best perspectives! and I love this because the heartless, less engaged dances are pointless. Motion. But once the heart is involved... Lovely! Thought provoking!
ReplyDeleteMisty, I love the way you put this, that heartless, non-engaged dances are pointless. I so agree!
DeleteThank you so much for being here!