Today we told Vic’s children and our two young grandchildren about my diagnosis. Vic’s kids were sympathetic, loving and willing to help in any way they could. When you marry later in life and find that you have adult stepchildren, it is often difficult to forge a close, loving relationship. We have been most fortunate that we are close with all our kids. I must add that it was a little difficult in the beginning, but we have all found our way and enjoy time with all of our children and grandchildren. Our happiest times are when we are with them.
We were nervous about telling our young grandchildren. These are the two that we see most often and so had to be told and prepared. Olivia is almost twelve and Matthew is nine and a half (half years are so important to note when you are young). They had lots of questions and asked if breast cancer was the same as having cancer. One comment was, “at least it’s not real cancer”. We answered all their questions honestly and they were understanding and satisfied with the information for now.
Matthew told me “you’re going to be fine cause you’ve got shine” – I will explain. Out of the work I have done with counselling and energy work, I developed my own story about shine. It started with a large, pink ‘diamond’ I used to illustrate the shine we carry inside us. I would talk about how we are born all shiny and brand new. Everyone applauds all we do and congratulates us on every accomplishment – first steps, first words, first everything. As life goes on, we encounter events and people that affect our lovely shiny feeling.
We hear words or something happens that covers up our shine and we forget how good we felt. I would use this analogy in group work and when helping people. Well, in conversations with my grandchildren, this evolved into a small book for kids and tiny “shiny people” that I handmake. We have had so much fun making shiny people and it just makes us feel good. We hold our shiny person, take a deep breath in and out, tap three times in the center of our chest (a body energy center), say ‘I’ve got shine’ and take another deep breath in and out. It is a reminder that we have shine. We even have lots of sayings about our shine like…..………… show your shine …………… hold onto your shine………… feel your shine ………….. tap into your shine
We have many shiny people in the house, all colours, all sizes, all shiny. I can’t seem to stop making them. So when we were all done discussing my news, Matthew took a shiny person and said, “Nana, you need to push in the shine and push out the cancer”.
So that’s our new mantra.
I realized today that I had created a picture in my mind that cancer had covered my shine. Well, I’m not going to let that happen. I need to keep on remembering that I have shine and I need to continue to find shine in all that I do and think.
