It’s a funny thing when the novelty of cancer wears off. It’s not as if I was ever looking forward to another scan or biopsy or surgery, but there was at least something new to it. There was at least something fresh to be experienced and to be felt. But this week, looking into the mirror just feels a little different. I already know what chemo feels like and now it’s just settling into another ten weeks of it. Ten more weeks of feeling off and looking kind of like an alien. And I’m not even knocking aliens. But we do look kind of similar. Big eyes and head, no hair, and sometimes green. Y’all sometimes I look green 🤢 Sometimes I am a green alien.

Today I’m celebrating those with endurance.

Can you relate? Not about the alien part, but just about the stamina it takes to make it through hard seasons? I think about my journey and compare it to others. I see that while this might suck right now, I feel like I have an end date. I’m hopeful that after my chemo, radiation, and second mastectomy is all done, that I will be okay and cancer free.

But so many people don’t get that end date to look forward to. Some people live with chronic illnesses or forever circumstances that don’t just last for a season; they last for life. And all I want to say is that I see you. You’re some of the truest heroes. And sometimes you don’t get the acknowledgement you deserve because you’ve simply been walking your tough road for so long that we forget that it still isn’t easy. So today I just wanted to celebrate you. You are unbelievably strong, and you help me put my own struggles into perspective. Thanks for stepping up consistently to that hard hand you’ve been dealt, way after the novelty of it wore off.