Tenuous

Today I am grateful for the brightness of the planet Venus in the early morning sky, and a nice walk with Darcy in the early morning air. 

Today is July 17. It's a date etched in my memory now, and that I recall each year in one way or another. Twelve years ago today I had my first surgery for breast cancer--a sentinel node biopsy and lumpectomy. It was overall successful, but wily cancer wasn't entirely gone. 

This anniversary feels different this year, after the last months of the COVID-19 pandemic have been unfolding. Mortality feels different. Everything is more tenuous. I think about my sister Mary Jo, dead for over a year now. And Kelly Preston, one of the latest victims of breast cancer. 

And the many tens of thousands who have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. and around the world since the year began. Everything is more tenuous. 

Tenuous. But still tethered. We are tied together as humans, as part of a natural world. We are secured by forces far beyond our own power. We can also each choose to connect with a Higher Power or Great Spirit of our own understanding. It helps me feel some stability. In these times, it all helps. Even a tenuous connection is a start.