Parenting With Breast Cancer

This was first published at 4 Times And Counting.

4 Times and Counting

When you are a parent, you want to protect your children from all the bad things in life as you love them so fiercely. You feel like this lioness with her cub, trying to shelter them from all impending harm. But when you are diagnosed with cancer, you are the one that sends your children’s world into a chaotic tailspin. Between the shock of diagnosis, the demands of treatment, and the uncertainty of what the future holds for you and your family, your children can’t help but be threatened by this disease that has invaded their lives.

Although I have had breast cancer 4 times, I only had children during the last bout in 2011. At that time, they were 9 and 11, old enough to understand what was going on but young enough that they still needed a parent who could be there for them 24/7. As a single…

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A Child in the Garden of Darkness and Light

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once she grows up.”

― Pablo Picasso

Grandpa, why did you hide all the pink markers under the couch? To teach you to use other colors my dear child. Watch your lines…

My grand-daughter is seven and has been an avid art student since she first painted an epic battle scene between dots, circles, and lines on my living room wall at one year old.  She is a fifth generation student of the Garden of Darkness and Light. Her grand parents have immersed her in music, art, writing, math, science, and literature.