Have you ever had one of those When life hands you lemons moments? I’m not talking about a disastrous
new haircut or even that moment when you can no longer zip your favorite pair of
jeans. I’m talking about one of those Holy
crap, what am I going to do now? moments.
Before the fall of 2007, I hadn’t. Like J. Thaddeus Toad on
his wild ride, I’d been happily racing through life, enjoying the scenery and signing on for whatever new adventure presented itself. A constant
stream of fads and manias drew my interest. You see, like Toad, I had a short
attention span. Inevitably, some new bright and shiny notion would send me off
in another direction. My switch from one mania to another was never a conscious
decision, it just sort of…happened.
Over the years, I dabbled in many things. At one point, I
filled my spare room with craft supplies because a good friend was a marvel at
creating gorgeous Christmas wreaths. However, it wasn’t long before I
discovered how badly I sucked at crafting. The subsequent yard sale earned a
whopping thirty-four dollars, but my spare room was clear of twigs and bows
once more.
 |
| Obviously, this isn't one of my boys. Just making the point that I'm apparently not the only one who sucks at sewing. |
Another time I purchased a used sewing machine from a
charming eighty-year-old woman whose fingers were bent and curled with
arthritis. The new valances over my windows were presentable enough but, before I destroyed all the evidence, I used to cringe whenever I'd come across a photo of my boys wearing the result of my
short foray into the world of patterns and thimbles.
Don’t most people have one
arm much longer than the other? Dr Suess would have been proud of my handiwork. I, ahem, gifted the old lady’s machine to a friend.
I don’t want to give the wrong impression. I had occasionally
gotten involved in something I felt strongly about and managed to see it through
to an acceptable conclusion, but other than enjoying time with family and friends,
the only mania that hadn’t faded over time was my writing. I was ten when I penned
my first short story and dreamed of sharing it with others. Unfortunately, I
never gave that lifelong passion the attention it deserved. Busy running in a
million different directions, I treated my writing as more of a hobby than the
burning need it was—despite the persistent antics of the characters living in
my head.
Then, on a crisp late September morning, I faced a moment unlike any other. Within the confines of a small, windowless
room, those lemons life occasionally delivers slammed into me like an out of control freight train. Facing a tiny
sprite of a woman, an oncologist, J Thaddeus and I were introduced to the
concept of mortality. From that moment on, Toad was on his own. After all,
if I was going to battle and beat breast cancer, subjecting myself to physical
disfigurement and debilitating treatments, I owed it to myself to do whatever
it took to bring my dreams to fruition.
Breast cancer handed me an entire bushel of lemons, and while
I wouldn’t wish the experience on my worst enemy, the diagnosis forced me to
make lemonade. In the process, I quenched a soul deep thirst I’d been ignoring
for years. Earlier this week, I sat in that same windowless room where that
tiny sprite of an oncologist and I shared grins and high fives. You see, ten years
later, having recently published my thirteenth title, I’m cancer free. Yeah, baby!
I could say mission accomplished and stop there, but that
would be so Toad. He and I think
differently these days. He's content to spend his life racing from one new fad to another. I, on the other hand, have experienced the sheer joy of fighting the battle and winning, in both my health and my writing. I’m a survivor, and with the concept of mortality
firmly in place, I refuse to settle for just a piece of my dream. I insist on
having it all.
What about you? Has life ever handed you lemons? And what
did you do with them?
When
Mac isn’t busy celebrating 10 years of cancer free living, she spends her time
weaving HEAs for her characters, like Sophie Taylor, the heroine of her RONE
AWARD winning romance, A SONG FOR SOPHIE, available via The
Wild Rose Press and everywhere else e-books are sold.
