Reality

My friends are like a garden of mixed flowers. Each one is so different from the others it is hard to imagine that they have anything in common at all.

Different colors, shapes, and sizes, I love them all, a collection of people whose likes, dislikes, needs and wants are so diverse it takes quite an imaginative person to really understand. Still I connect with each one on a level that is very special and very important to me. Take away any one and I would truly be sad.

My sister and I sit with one of the dearest as she begins her second round of chemo and I am surprised at the depth of emotions I feel. Hearing about these experiences and being there are two completely different things. Seeing her head devoid of hair only makes me love her more, realizing what an important and sweet part of my life she has become over the years. Watching her go from serenely calm to a trembling, white lipped bundle of blankets clutching a tub and covered in hives, brings the reality of this situation right out into the light where it cannot be ignored in any way.

She is fighting for her life and there is only so much we can do for her. So we sit beside her and hand her the tub, or help her walk to the bathroom. We laugh with her and call the nurses and try to think only positive thoughts.

And suddenly this flower becomes the most important one around. My thoughts and feelings swirl in an invisible scent that fills all my senses. It is the aroma of love, tried and true, that must become a bulwark against anything that might allow it to dissipate. It is the power of feelings that need to rise up and prove that nothing is stronger than the collective caring shared among us.

We are friends, sisters by choice in an uncertain world. Together we have survived many things and we will survive this too.