One of the gifts Steve's mom left her family was a collection of poems she'd written throughout her life between 1937 and 1991. From childhood, she had written short stories, journals, and news articles, but her voice and heart were best revealed in her poetry. In 1991, she got a grant from the arts council that led to the publication of a chapbook titled, In the Darkling Afternoon.
We shared a love of writing and joined Penelope together in 1988 . I benefitted tremendously from her wisdom, guidance and unconditional love. Those days of collaborating were happy, satisfying times for us and our group was glad to help her edit and finalize her poems for the book. Since she passed away in 1994, I have often been drawn back to reread those treasured poems.
I read the book again tonight to seek her strength and insight for the challenges ahead. Betty battled breast cancer twice and often wrote about her fears. Now her daughter has begun the same fight. So much has changed in detection and treatment since her first bout in the 1960s and Mary has benefitted from those technological advances.
The radiologist said she is extremely lucky. It was caught very early and the malignancy is very tiny. Over the coming weeks, there will be more tests, consultations, assessments, a lumpectomy and then weeks of radiation. But the prognosis is extremely good! She is upbeat, positive and proactive. We'll be by her side for each step.
Oh, yes, and I hit 90.15 miles today! I'm in single digits!
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