About Last Night.....

 Life is sometimes really shitty. But then there is crazy and beautiful and amazing. God places you in situations where you are supposed to be.  I cannot even begin to tell you how many times this has been true since sobriety and since I have found my faith again. Last night... Mind blown. 

 I had two events I really really wanted to go to last night. I had to make a choice. Which is rare that I would even have one thing to do these days. There was a live music event back home with a lot of old friends and then there was a sobriety celebration and fund raiser that a friend of mine so generously offered me tickets to.  Normally there would be no question and I would have chosen to hang out and gossip and dance with my best friends. But for some reason I was being pulled in the other direction. For the last few years I've been following these impulses as they have seemingly always lead me to a place I needed to be. Therefore I chose to attend the celebration fundraiser.  Most of you know that I am now two years sober. I also felt a great need to reach out to a great friend who is also in recovery to see if he would go with me. So I asked and he said yes. For some unknown reason I believe both of us needed to be there last night. 

 

We arrived and checked out the silent auction items and had a nice meal. There was also a hot chocolate and gourmet coffee bar to substitute for a real bar of course since this was a sobriety event no alcohol was involved. This made it easier to relax and enjoy without having to worry about temptation. We hung out and visited and did all the goofy things you do at fundraisers… The photo booth (which is my favorite thing!), the live auction, music and dancing etc. 

 

I was visiting with an amazingly generous man and filing him in on my journey since the last recovery event 2 years ago where I was just beginning my sobriety and my next cancer journey.  And somehow my friend and I ended up with two Trek bikes from Walt's!  How exciting right? My friend and I were ecstatic and feeling amazingly blessed!  I thought at that moment wow maybe that's why I was pulled here. 

 

Towards the end of the evening as we were gathering our stuff and talking about heading out I noticed a girl with a cool disco ball phone plug in and commented on it. At this event they just place people randomly at tables where you can mingle and meet new people. The cool disco girl had literally been sitting at our table all night and this was my first interaction with her. We started chatting and somehow pancreatic cancer was brought up in our conversation. She told me her sister had passed away a year ago from pancreatic cancer. She looked young and I knew that her sister was probably young as well. I told her that I had just been diagnosed a year ago and from that conversation we went into the fact that I also was a breast cancer survivor. She then opened up to me that she had the BRCA2 gene, and her sister and her mother. I couldn’t believe it. I really felt like, at that moment, her and I were supposed to meet and this was not by accident. She then went on to tell me that she was going to be having her prophylactic hysterectomy and mastectomy in the next month to prevent the cancer from invading those two parts of her body, because with BRCA2 it’s not if you’re going to get the cancer but when. I then told her that I had had a double mastectomy and a full hysterectomy as well and we then chatted a while about BRCA2 and all the shitty things that goes along with it. She told me she was raising her sister's children and had just moved here from Arizona after her sister had passed away. I asked her how long her sister had made it with from diagnosis and she said two years. That is a lot longer than most people who are diagnosed with it live, so that gave me some hope that maybe I’ll make it at least two years or even longer. We exchanged Facebook friend messages and I let her know that she could call me or message me at any time if she needed anything at all. I know these surgeries are scary and doing them prophylactically is a very very brave thing to do. I’m not sure if I was in her shoes before a cancer diagnosis if I would be so brave. But she is doing this for her children and her sister‘s children as well, so she can be around for a long time to take care of them all. 

 

So here we are, two people placed at a table, randomly put together at an event that I normally would have not chosen over the another event and we both have the BRCA2 gene and her sister had passed away from pancreatic cancer. And she is getting ready to go through what I've been through and I feel like I can be a friend and help her out through her journey. 

This was not a chance meeting nor was it accidental. I believe God placed her there for me to help through these surgeries and to be a support system and to share my story. It was an amazing night and I’m still kind of in shock over the way God moves in his mysterious workings in my life since I have gotten sober and found my faith again.  I hope my friend also found some strength and positivity by going along with me. He probably doesn't know it, but he helped me to feel comfortable in an always uncomfortable situation of being around new people. Since I have gotten sober that has been the hardest part for me.... Being sober and social. But having a friend along made it a great night!  I am getting better at it every day! Just having the strength to ask someone to go with me is a win in my books! 

 

Here's to a beautiful Sunday and being thankful for all of my blessings and a reminder that nothing happens by accident. For  my prayer warriors.... Thank you always! Extras on 12-8!