A melancholy Sunday. Partly hangxiety after a fairly largeish night celebrating Christmas in July in August (AI meds and fizz do not go well together!), but also remembering all the courageous people who’ve gone before me and are no longer here. People who openly shared their cancer diagnosis, treatment and end of life in all its rawness with grace (and sometimes a lightness of humour even in the darkness). I’m currently reading ‘Before I Say Goodbye’, a collection of newspaper articles written by Ruth Picardie (who died of breast cancer aged 33 in 1997) and email correspondence between her and her friends. I’m struck by how much it reminds me of posts in the Insta cancer community today, over 20 years later. We are all interconnected: past, present and future. I find a sorrowing strength in that. Source: ‘Before I Say Goodbye’ (1998) by Ruth Picardie .
- luan