i. hate. cancer.

I. Hate. Cancer. (and every other illness out there)

I hate watching it tear people's lives apart and yet together all at the same time.

I hate that every single one of us says that we live each day like it's our last, but we don't....

We still take our lives for granted....

I hate that I know what it feels like to be at someone's side when they pass away....

I hate that i know that feeling, but that i am thankful for knowing it....

i am thankful for knowing that feeling, because not many people get to experience being "THE ONE" at someone's dying side.... not even someone's dying side, but someone's ill side....

I am grateful for the experiences I have shared with individuals who have given me an amazing way of seeing life....

a way that forever changes the way i see life....

i mean, the ENTIRE outlook....

even IIII am guilty of taking the small things for granted.

it is hard not to.

i wake up every morning next to jason.

i can text him anytime i want.

i can call him anytime i want.

i even give him a hard sometimes if he doesn't call me right back.

but none of that is life-threatening....

how ENTIRELY different my WHOLE world would be if i couldn't just pick up my phone to call him whenever i wanted....

how ENTIRELY different my WHOLE world would be if i rolled over in the morning, and he wasn't there.... or if i reached over to rub my fingers through his hair and he wasn't there....

how EMPTY my heart would feel, if 6 pm rolled around, and he didn't pull into the driveway....

or saturday came around, and i didn't have his work pants pockets to check for money,

or his work shirts for pens,

right before washing them.....

or if every morning, when i woke up, his pajamas weren't thrown about the room for me to pick up, fold and put away....

how sad i would feel, if the lingering scent of his shaving cream wasn't in the bathroom sink when i brushed my teeth....

how much i would cry, if his black hat sat on the shelf in the closet, unworn.....

how much i know i would give anything to have his whiskerss all over the countertop long after he's gone for work.... like they are now....

you know, there are mornings when he rolls over and wraps his arms around me and my eyes fill with tears....

because his whiskery face tickles the middle of my upper back, and his right arm wraps over my right arm, and holds onto my left as he snuggles me just about as tight as he can.... and i think about the rhythm of his breathing....

i take in the way his arms wrap me tight....

the way his hands feel....

his arms....

i can't imagine my world without him....

and yet there are so many people who lose their loved ones every single day....

i don't experience loss every single day.....

but when i do, it touches my heart in a way that only i can see....

for they are MY feelings....

and they live inside me.....

however, do you know what i would give to stand on a stage.... with a microphone....

kind of like Forrest Gump did in his movie.... in front of everyone talking about Vietnam.... (only i'd want my microphone to not be ripped out of the speaker)....

i'd want to stand in front of that many people.... multiple times....

and tell them about what it's like to be on an oncology floor.

i want to tell them all the things that everyone told me when they knew they were dying....

they all said the same things, but they all said them so differently....

the couples who were married for many decades....

they all said the same things.....

about the way they loved each other....

they were each other's best friends....

family came before anything else did....

they couldn't imagine anyone else at their side other than that person....

that coworkers didn't matter.

friends helped, but they weren't nearly as great as their loved ones.....

they all said to let the petty stuff go....

and that if you weren't dying, chances are, it was petty....

always let the other one think they're right....

never go to bed angry....

always kiss good night.

and good morning.....

today my heart was heavy,

because although this man, i did not know, was dying,

he was still dying.....

and he is young....

and only married for 2 short months, but together for so many years....

he has fought an incredibly long and hard battle with cancer,

and i know the pain that their family is about to feel....

so when someone asks me time and time again, "why did you choose oncology?"....

this is exactly why....

because there is so much more to learn from these people than anyone else will ever get to see....

because one day, i dream of standing before tons and tons of people and sharing these messages with them....

touching their hearts in a way that someone has touched mine....

it is so much easier said than done, but unless you're going to go work directly with these people, take my word for it....

i chose oncology because of the people who fight like hell to survive.....

for the ones who can't change what they were handed,

but they accept it....

with positive attitudes, and do everything they can to stay alive....

so that they can continue loving.....

i chose oncology because there is so much more to life than my own problems and hang ups....

i chose oncology because if i wasn't there....

who else would take my place?