LAKE
NORMAN
V O L U M E
X I I I
,
WOMAN
N U M B E R
I I I I
from the
FIND US ON
womenpower
A S I S AT D O W N AT M Y D E S K L A S T M O N T H TO W R I T E , I glanced
at the television for an update on Hurricane Dorian—the fourth devastating hurricane to unleash its fury on our beautiful coastline in only three years. And that got me thinking about the storms in our own lives and how life itself is “hurricane territory”—a place in which we find ourselves battening down the hatches and searching for safe harbor time and time again.
Though I’m fortunate enough to have never faced cancer, I have been weathering a whopper of a storm recently, one that had me feeling as if I were alone on a tiny life raft about to be swallowed up by the turbulent waves that were crashing all around me. Making matters worse, the lack of a caring response by someone dear to me increased my feelings of isolation, vulnerability, and terror. My guess is that is what a cancer diagnosis must feel like, too—as if you are all alone in the middle of a tempestuous storm, barely able to stay afloat. It doesn’t matter how strong we are, all of us endure times in our life in which our hearts are breaking and we feel like we’re sinking. It’s then that we discover our “lifeboat” people—the ones in our lives who don their life vests, climb aboard, and face the storm beside us, no matter how wild the ride. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the middle of a relationship storm; it doesn’t matter if your storm involves a health crisis, like breast cancer; it doesn’t matter if your storm scares the bejeebies out of them…your lifeboat people will not hesitate to get in your boat and man an oar. Sometimes the people who hop in our boat are exactly who we expect, and sometimes, those we expect to weather the storm with us abandon ship. We learn a lot about them, either way. I realized that the people who bailed during my recent storm are never going to be who I need them to be, and that’s ok—they have their own voyage to sail. The people who did hop in my lifeboat came in all kinds of forms: family and friends, acquaintances, strangers, and even, I’m convinced, a few angels. Some of them did some really heavy rowing, keeping my boat on the surface when I was sure it was going under, and some of them simply placed their hand around my waist, letting me know they were there if I needed them, that they wouldn’t let me drown. I know that there are clear skies and smoother sailing ahead of me—after all, every storm runs out of rain. Not only that, I’ve got a boatload full of family and friends who I’m not about to let down. And should they ever find themselves in the midst of their own hurricane, I will be by their side and they will hear me say loud and clear, “I am in your boat.” w
DANA NIETERS PUBLISHER
TAMMI PHRONEBARGER
KIM CROSS
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