Yellow tulips.

A darling friend brought me oodles of treats the other day.  Among the booty was a perfect bouquet of yellow tulips.  Have you ever tried to feel sad or down while looking at yellow tulips?  Can’t be done.  They, like the warm, sunny weather we’ve been having lately, are a happy harbinger of spring.

It turns out that this, the post-treatment period, is the time in a cancer patient’s life for depression and anxiety.  While I have had my dark moments, you, my darling friends, never let me slide very far or for very long.  You call, you email, you send cards, you bring food, you clean my house, you get me out for walks or meals, you show me your scrapbooks, you make me hats, you bring plants and flowers.  In short, you care for me and about me– in a measure far, far greater than I deserve.  You make my life beautiful and joyful, even when I am housebound, exhausted, fearful, in pain, or all of the above.  You are extraordinary and you deserve to be celebrated.  I know how busy your lives are; yet you take time out to care for me.  You are heroes — not only to me, but to everyone whose heart you touch.  Each of you goes out of your way to make the world a better place.  Do you know how amazing that is in this day and age?!  The pace of your lives is bordering on unmanageable.  People everywhere are more and more disconnected.  You ignore those factors and reach out.  You make an enormous difference in the lives of a myriad of people.  On my own behalf and on behalf of all those people, I thank you and I remind you that you are greatly loved.  Bless you.