A fellow endometrial cancer survivor made the recommendation that I celebrate every year by taking a trip. I thought that was a nice way to celebrate life. I have heard from other cancer survivors about how they celebrate. The date I got news that I was in remission was April 14, 2015. I was not done with the wild, medical ride until much later though. But I can assert that I am relieved that the major surgery got rid of the cancer.
My friend and I went to Canada to celebrate. We were celebrating her engagement as well! I'm excited to see her get married in September. I had this itch to do something absolutely crazy. I asked her if she was up to it. She was nervous because of her fear of heights. Later on, she said that she wouldn't have gone if she knew about my tendency to do crazy things. I have skydived twice. I have gone ziplining. I have gone paragliding. I swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco. I have taken trapeze lessons. I have done more crazy things. The Edgewalk was the next crazy thing to do. I am glad I did not tell her! The Edgewalk at the CN Tower in Toronto. And it was mind-blowing to go out on the edge of a tall tower and walk along the edge. It was scary. I did not like leaning forward but felt comfortable with leaning backwards.
While I was walking along the edge, I was remembering the battle with cancer and infection. I did not choose that ride. I choose to walk over the edge but I did not choose that medical roller coaster. I was thrown on that ride and dealt with it a day at a time. And I did it.
Someone asked me a few days after the Edgewalk why I keep on doing crazy things. I said that I noticed that as I grow older, my fear grows. That is the fear of taking risks and connecting with people. After my solo eight-day camping trip across the southwestern United States in 2001, I learned afterwards that the fear subsided. I decided that I would continue to find adventures that would remind me that my fear is real and that I should continue to put it aside to take the plunge in living my life to its fullest. It has worked and I will continue to seek out adventures. I have found that yoga is also a wonderful way to continue to resist my fear. I continue to push myself to do challenging poses. This picture was taken ten days ago and it was the first time I attempted the headstand far away from a wall since before the surgeries. My core strength is coming back.
Fearless is indeed the new pretty. Let's roll.
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