Ruth Marcon

[Guest guest]

Dear Ruth,

What a fascinating story you weave. I was in ACOR support group and missed

seeing your posts 9 years ago. What a great way to celebrate, by giving

everyone a flower and having a great party to have everyone celebrate with you.

I have been CCR just since December of 2009, but was diagnosed way back in 7/96

when I was 67 years old. It was as great a shock to me as it was to anyone

else, there was no cancer in my immediate family, but I changed all that. You

go to the hospital for one thing and come out with something else much worse, or

so we thought. Now we have a different mindset and every success story just

adds a little to the longevity charts - we are making history and a difference

for all future diagnoses. We will die with it, but not necessarily of it and

that is the difference, making it chronic and manageable for nearly everyone.

Like you, I want to celebrate every great moment. I was in the hospital for my

80th birthday and I told my son and his wife that if I had not been admitted for

my illness, I would have rented a hall and thrown myself an " 80 party " . He and

his wife went home and planned that party for me and when I had recuperated

enough, I had my party and it was great. Your post made me realize that we need

to celebrate a lot more of the little things in life, as they are important,

too. A simple thing like a flower or a kiss on the cheek can make a big

difference and it brought to mind something that happened on a trip to Rome.

We went to this Italian restaurant and were greeted by the waiters with a gong

being struck on each charger plate as they put it on the table and then another

waiter came along with a rose in his teeth and presented it to each of the

ladies in the group as he planted a kiss on our cheeks. Another waiter brought

a guitar and another a flute. When they had finished their little drama thingy,

I asked the flutist if he had ever met Galway. He excused himself and

came back in a minute with a picture of himself and Sir Galway. It made him

proud as well that I associated the two of them. He taught music at a

university there in Rome and this was his way of making extra money. A few

years ago, I found him on the internet and wrote him. He was so excited, he

wrote me right back and thanked me for going to his website and steered me to

the link to listen to his record. So that works both ways, when you do

something nice for someone like giving them a flower. I hope you rent Carnegie

Hall for your 20th anniversary and maybe invite Celine Dion. LOL Thanks for

sharing.

Hands & hearts,

Lottie Duthu