Dear Reader Column 10-19-07

Join my email book club. Over 330,000 people read 5-minutes a day. To see what books I'm featuring this week, go to: http://www.dearreader.com/

Dear Reader,

When my mother died of lung cancer a couple of years ago, suddenly I became terrified that maybe I was next. I couldn't stand to listen to news reports about cancer, even if it was good news and I'd turn my head the other way when I drove by a cancer center--didn't even want to read the words. At first I rationalized it was perfectly normal to run the other way, after all my mother had just died from cancer. But then I got a little obsessed. Not only did I worry that the big "C" was coming to get me, but the minute I felt an ache or pain I was on the Internet typing in symptoms, trying to figure out what form of cancer I had and how much longer I could expect to live.

It's been a little over two years since my mother passed away and my fear has subsided for the most part, but every now and then the frightening "C" still catches me off guard. And that's what happened yesterday when I heard that an old friend of mine passed away from ovarian cancer. As soon as I finished reading the email, a tinge of fear showed up and my mind started racing, 'I've had a pain off-and-on in my side lately, maybe I should...' But then instead of running to the computer to self-diagnose my fate, I remembered what a friend of mine said to me a couple of months ago when I was obsessing, "Suzanne, don't die twice."

"Don't die twice"--words of wisdom that my friend's mother shared with her one day when she was obsessing about something that was out of her control. And yesterday they were the words that helped me feel grounded again--"Suzanne, don't die twice."

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

P. S. Were you a winner? Click to see if you're getting an apron in the mail and see one of the pottery winners, too! Go to: http://tinyurl.com/346hg3

READ THE CLASSICS: The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: http://tinyurl.com/yu9uk7

Comments

[Chellie Campbell]

Hi, Suzanne!

I really related to your column today (and so sorry about your mom)...a friend of mine had breast cancer 2 years ago and it just came back so she's got to go through more surgery and yuckiness. "Don't die twice" is such great advice! I remember hearing someone else said, "Most people spend their lives running away from something that isn't after them" and my mother always said, "Don't borrow trouble". Wise words. Some day I will leave this planet - don't we all? - but until I do, I'm going to play Scarlett O'Hara: "I won't think about that today. I'll go crazy if I do. I'll think about that tomorrow at Tara. After all, tomorrow is another day!"

Love you,
Chellie

[Bookjive]

Hearing the big "C" alone is frightening enough. Just this year, three of my friends died of cancer and they're all still young in their thirties. Was it radiation? I don't know. The only thing I know is the big "C" makes one stronger everyday ... maybe not physically, but spiritually, as they learn to appreciate everyone, everything, and every minute in their lives. Most "C" bearing people learned how to feed their faith and so their fears are starve to death.