It’s Been 15 Years and I’m Still Here!

Fifteen years ago today, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  At times, it seems as if it were yesterday.  At others, it seems a lifetime ago.  But as any cancer survivor knows, we never forget the diagnosis which begins this journey.

So today, I celebrate with gratitude the triumph of still being here to enjoy my life with my children.  Even though I celebrate this milestone alone today, I have many angels in my life to whom I look with loving gratitude for all that they have done for me throughout the years.  I hold dearly those memories of loving support and kindness which were gifted to me.  Indeed, sometimes it takes a village.

My life has changed by leaps and bounds since that fateful day.  I’ve overcome 10 + surgeries, chemotherapy, baldness, radiation and countless scares that the cancer had returned.  I’ve loved and lost and let go.  But what remains is my faith, my courage and my choice to stay here and fight for my life.

I’ve learned so many lessons by enduring cancer, ones that perhaps I wish I’d never learned, but yet I am grateful all the same.

So on this New Year’s Eve Day, please celebrate with me as I celebrate with you.  Cheers with gratitude to the lessons learned in the past 15 years and cheers to another year filled with light, love, health, prosperity and happiness for all!

Shine On!

xo

Today is Your Day to Twinkle Sparkle Glow and Shine

Today is Your Day to Twinkle Sparkle Glow Shine

Officially it’s January 1st, 2013, and with the dawn, a new year is heralded in today and officially closes the door on 2012….at least in my book.  I awoke this morning with the little ditty of Rabbit Rabbit in my head (and out my mouth) before my first sip of coffee.  I’m not taking any chances on the first day of the month AND new year!  Are you scratching your head and wondering why?  Here’s the answer!  https://misifusa.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/rabbit-rabbit/

In the meantime, I thought this was a great card to begin the new year with ~ Don’t you love the optimism of this card ~ it has the ability to make you smile and to increase your desire to continue to SHINE ON!  This is yet another year to shine for all of us!  Are you ready?  On your mark, get set and let’s Twinkle Sparkle Glow and Shine On this year!

It’s only a matter of attitude ~ a shift if you will ~ and like any habit, it’s one that you can acquire easily without much extra effort…you just have to remember that you are a shining star.  That’s it!

You shine on with your attitude, your words, your expressions and by being yourself!  Even the brightest stars may have days when we feel less than sparkly, but our light is always shining in our souls!  I would love to see us all twinkling, sparkling, glowing and shining this year!  Imagine if as a connected community we allowed our inner lights to blossom and ignite the lights in others!  We could be a fireball of enthusiastic bloggers who connect like the amazing twinkly lights of the New Year’s Ball in Times Square!  Imagine the world cheering us on as we descend next New Year’s Eve on a year filled with every type of shining moment imaginable!  Imagine the power of a community filled with love, light and individuals who’ve come together with enthusiasm, optimism and in inspiration!

So please join me this year as we travel on our Journey of Endurance ~

Igniting our inner stars to

Twinkle,

Sparkle,

Glow

and Shine On! 

Happy 2013!

xo

May Your 2013 Be Blessed!

may your 2013 be blessed!

Well, it’s here again…New Year’s Eve!  The night when party revelers ring out the old year and ring in the New Year with champagne, family and friends, kisses at midnight and plenty of resolutions for the coming year!  For me, it’s a cancerversary and looking back at last year, I realize how far I’ve come.  https://misifusa.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/a-new-year-a-new-decade-welcome-2012/

Last year at this time, I was full of happiness as I’d lived 10 years since diagnosis of breast cancer.  I was very excited for the coming year as I was sure it would be full of happiness ~ for hadn’t I suffered enough in the last 10 years?  But it didn’t turn out as I’d planned at all for 2012 for in astrology terms, being the year of the dragon, https://misifusa.wordpress.com/2012/08/21/hope-in-the-year-of-the-dragon/  it was going to be a bumpy ride…and it surely was for me.

So today, which happens to coincide with my Mom’s birthday, another first without my Dad since he passed 6 months ago, will be a bittersweet and grateful day for me.  I am grateful that my sister AAngel and I can spend the day with my Mom, lunching at her favorite restaurant, and just enjoying the fact that we are all healthy and together ~ and able to celebrate with her.  However, it is bittersweet because last year, my parents insisted that we begin the new year with a family brunch to celebrate my 10 years so on January 1st, our entire family met for brunch.  We plan on meeting again tomorrow, but it will be sad without my Dad because we’ll officially be starting the year without him.

I’m not one to make resolutions since quite frankly, I break them.  The strain of making resolutions to last a year is too much for me.  On the flip side, I believe that we can begin new habits and break old ones everyday since each dawn ushers in a new day in which to begin again!  It’s not so much this monumental “I have to make resolutions” as it is, this habit needs to change today and because it is a new day, a new moment and new dawn, so shall it be.

So it is with peaceful resolve that I begin this morning…grateful as always to awaken to a new day, and excited to see what gifts will be showered upon my soul today since it is a bit of a celebratory day.  After lunch, tonight we will host and gather some of our family to celebrate another good year’s ending and the birth of a new year as well.

I want to thank each and every one of you for reading my blog, for commenting on it and for your sweet thoughts, prayers and support this year.  I am so grateful to all of you and I appreciate our connections and community!

I wish you a year filled with much

love, understanding, support, health,

wealth, joy, laughter and happy memories.

May your burdens be light, May your smiles be plentiful and

May you feel blessed every morn’ when you awaken!

(yes, I made up the above).

Shine On in 2013!

xo

Life After Death?

They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it.

Death cannot kill what never dies. – William Penn

Well, we made it through our first Christmas without Dad.  In case you didn’t know, my Dad passed away 6 months ago so we’ve been dealing with many firsts in the last few months, my parents’ first anniversary and his first birthday (is there such a thing to celebrate when he’s not here?), the first Halloween, Thanksgiving and now Christmas.  In the near future looms New Year’s Eve and my Mom’s birthday.  According to helpful friends, the year of firsts without Dad are the hardest which I imagine is true having been through a bunch so far…but it is supposed to get easier with time which is a relief.

I awoke this morning pondering life after death and thought I’d ask you ~  my blogging community ~  to help me again navigate these muddy waters.  Many of you have special gifts that you’ve shared with me so I figure if anyone can help, it would be you.  I”m too close to see the forest for the trees so I’d like to rely on you.

Do you believe in life after death?  Do you believe you can come back to be with your loved ones even for a little bit?  Do you believe that spirits can rattle windows or become squawking birds?  How about hovering around the house and moving objects in a mischievous manner?  Can they enter our dreams to show us that they are happy?  Do they possess the ability to play with electricity?  Can they leave us signs?  Can they turn into cardinals or butterflies to show us they are nearby?

In case you weren’t able to guess, the above happened to our family ~ although I am a bit skeptical since not all of the above were experienced by me.  But to my Mom, they are definite signs of Dad.  In fact, she knows that he’s been back to visit her, to let her know that he’s still around watching over her.

I’d love to hear your experiences if you have had any and if you’d share with me.  Because I think that especially around the holidays, the empty chair of a loved one who has  passed is most felt now.  We tried to make it easier for my Mom by changing it up this year and my sister AAngel hostessed Christmas Day so that we wouldn’t have the memory of Dad’s empty chair.  For the most part, I think it worked well ~  she subtly lit a white candle on her table for him which I thought was most caring.

Have you experienced any after death visits?

Do you believe in the ability for loved ones to come back to visit?

Do you have any suggestions on how to get through the rest of the year of firsts?

Any and all suggestions, stories and experiences are appreciated!

Shine On!

xo

I found a few blogs who had a bit to say on the subject as well ~ I thought you might like to check them out too!

http://rickalonzophoto.wordpress.com/2012/12/22/life-after-death/

http://sarahsana.wordpress.com/2012/12/21/the-two-hearted-woman-in-love-with-an-itsy-bitsy-spider-man/

http://sharingacrosstheveil.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/from-tamara/

http://globalsearchfortruth.com/2012/12/17/is-there-life-after-death/

http://theowlsmoonsoulsupport.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/spiritual-mainframe-qa-2/