“ALL CLEAR!”  These two words are the holy grail for cancer patients.  They are confirmation that treatment is working.  They are the first rays of sun peeking over the horizon of life’s road.  They are the words that offer a chance to return to normal.

Webster’s dictionary defines normal as “the usual, average, or typical state or condition.”  The difficulty with returning to normal is that, for me, cancer has left me fundamentally different.  In the best way possible.  I don’t want to settle back into my previous norm.  Those days were filled with a focus on the years ahead, not the present times.

If this experience has taught me anything, it is that we are not guaranteed the long, invincible life we dreamed about as kids.  The doctors have assured me mine will not end anytime soon – at least not due to this cancer.  However, their words and those of John Lennon (Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.) remind me to plan for the future, but live for the day.