A Time to Go Home

I brought a limited number of art supplies with me to have things to do while I waited to be radiated again. I did a few things, one of them being that I played around with watercolor. I started out trying to do this from a silk flower and then things got out of control so I quit looking at the flower and went on and finished it up as best I could! I'm not great at any painting/sketching/drawing stuff but I do like to play around with it. It seems to relax me.

I am in the control group of a relaxation study at MD Anderson. The control group gets no input on relaxing. We just supply data in the form of questionnaires and sleep logs filled out. Today I had to do an EKG while trying to think neutral thoughts. They always have you keep your eyes open and you look at a picture on the wall. Today I was analyzing in my head how I would go about painting the picture which happened to be a watercolor print. I suppose that was neutral thinking!

Today I played around and painted this girl/woman. I'm beginning to think watercolor is about being willing to be loose and to lose a little bit of control. I'm having fun with it. She looked like she might have something to say and I tried to listen hard to what she might be saying. I really couldn't come up with anything other than "She was never alone." But I didn't really like that.

I remembered a "quick poem" my friend Connie had written and thought that might be what the girl/woman might be wanting me to remember.

So I added the poem and I like it. It seems a fitting reminder for me as I finish my last radiation treatment tomorrow and head back home to my more normal routine. My aunt has taken real good care of me and I've enjoyed being here with her. I've also gotten to spend time visiting with my sister who is recovering from own nightmare cancer surgery (she is doing much better now, but it was rough for a while). But I'm ready to be done and will be heading home tomorrow.

This was a note that was tucked into the corner of a picture frame that was in one of the radiation dressing rooms. It was an encouraging thing to read and to remember on the days I saw it. I'm grateful for all the hands that held me and encouraged me through this time.