Although a lot of living with cancer is crap, there are some good times to be had. Living with cancer is responsible for changing peoples thinking, re-prioritising what they want to spend their time doing. Last Wednesday I had the most wonderful opportunity to attend the home birth of my best friends third baby. As soon as I got the call (in true birth fashion, 5am!) I was in the car, slipping and sliding down to Bega from Canberra, a 3 hour trip, only to get a little surprise when I arrived. That the baby was born after only 2 hrs labour! The proud father and little fella greeted me at the door and what followed was two of the most loved filled days I think I've had in a while. Nothing compares to being around to bond with a new baby, help your friends out and enjoy precious family time. To top of my great few days I've spent two lazy days in the little coastal town my parents live in, bonding with my blood family, discussing the always just out of reach possibilites of moving there permanently. My funny father decided it would be a nice idea to take me round the town looking at rentals, vacant blocks and "affordable" houses for sale. Nothing beats my mum's cooking and I dare say tomorrow when I make the long trek back up the mountain, it's going to be very hard to rationalise that my little life of part time work, share housing for too much rent and trying to fit time in with busy working friends is a better place for me to be instead of the easy-peasy semi-retired lifestyle living down the coast offers. It's not always sensible to make decisions for quality of life (trust me, I've been doing that for a few years now) but it's so nice to think it will all work out when you dream of it.
If I didn't have cancer I dare say I wouldn't feel I have to right to just go do things and explain later. Society makes it very hard to put relationships above work as a priority, but it does recognise that when cancer is going to shorten a persons life, relationships and great experiences are among the most important things. I'll be poor for a little while but who cares! I GOT TO HUG A NEW BORN BABY, MY BEST FRIENDS AND MY MUM AND DAD. Yay!!
