I've Survived Damn Near Everything

October is my favorite month; I get to buy lots of new pink things commemorating Breast Cancer Awareness.  As a survivor I use that as a pretense to take my collecting from hobby to obsession.  I started collecting T-shirts after the Northridge earthquake (they held up better than my glassware.)  We all had the “I survived the Northridge Earthquake,” then Fires, then.....  The longer we live the more things happen to us, finally, as elders we can wear T- shirts that say “I’ve Survived Damn Near Everything.”  I’ve made it my life’s work to find out how survivor’s “suffer in style”. I am awed by the courage, strength, and humor I witness daily. I recently attended a “Positivity Party for the “mother of all survivors”, Heather Warrick.  The “cancer princess’ “has had 11 recurrences and her life has inspired hundreds if not thousands. The lessons are age old - she lives one day at a time sometimes one moment at a time, she expresses gratitude for the incredible blessing of her loving family, and she lives her motto to “Choose Hope.”  Emily Dickinson says "Hope" is the thing with feathers—That perches in the soul—And sings the tune without the words—And never stops—at all.”  We must never stop at all.