Ok. So this is going to be short but, to use a word that two people have used in the past two days to describe what is going on, it's going to be 'poignant'.
Today marked one year since I finished my final round of chemo and was released back into whatever semblance of normality i've been living for the last 12 months. It's been a fantastic, inspiring and fun 12 months, but it's also been exhausting and uncertain. I have written a number of blogs in manuscript but they haven't made it to posting because i've been trying to 'move on'. I've realised there really is no moving on though. This experience is something that's going to be with me for the rest of my life. Simply because it threatened my life, defined my life and changed my life.
I'll try and restrospectively put up the other blogs because they will explain something of where this post is coming from, but for now you'll have to fill in the blanks yourselves. Try and think of the most outrageous reasons for everything. It makes me sound more exciting.
I'm typing this whilst overlooking Sunset Boulevard traffic, with the flashing billboards advertising one reality or talk show after another. I'm in LA baby! It's unreal, even to the point that i'm sharing the hotel with One Direction. I think I saw one of them last night but I cannot be sure. #officiallyold
It couldn't be further than that taxi carrying a heaving and sobbing Topher through Hammersmith.
I've made some drastic decisions since then. I am currently 'between jobs' and where I end up in a years time is anyone's guess. It's a slightly unsettling but exciting feeling.
I met a mate at the hotel earlier who is now living in LA and heard myself basically saying my future is up for grabs and I don't care. Sitting here now though I still accept that the more day to day and material matters will also have an impact on my plans. That's where i've realised the sheer effort that successful people put into their lives. Some things do just happen to you; winning the lottery or having cancer. But other things have to be worked for. Hard. I've had the cancer so now if i want to continue my trips to the Sunset Strip i'm going to have to return to a little normality.
I'm looking forward to it.
Oh... and I also got a tattoo to commemorate the occasion... For real. It was the weirdest thing. As I was lying there on my back staring at the ceiling with a feeling like someone was etching letters into my skin with a white hot shard of glass, all I could think of was April 21 2012 when I was lying on another bed waiting for a man to come and tell me that my body had betrayed me. The pain from the needle felt like a scratch from a thorn after remembering that.
Today marked one year since I finished my final round of chemo and was released back into whatever semblance of normality i've been living for the last 12 months. It's been a fantastic, inspiring and fun 12 months, but it's also been exhausting and uncertain. I have written a number of blogs in manuscript but they haven't made it to posting because i've been trying to 'move on'. I've realised there really is no moving on though. This experience is something that's going to be with me for the rest of my life. Simply because it threatened my life, defined my life and changed my life.
I'll try and restrospectively put up the other blogs because they will explain something of where this post is coming from, but for now you'll have to fill in the blanks yourselves. Try and think of the most outrageous reasons for everything. It makes me sound more exciting.
I'm typing this whilst overlooking Sunset Boulevard traffic, with the flashing billboards advertising one reality or talk show after another. I'm in LA baby! It's unreal, even to the point that i'm sharing the hotel with One Direction. I think I saw one of them last night but I cannot be sure. #officiallyold
It couldn't be further than that taxi carrying a heaving and sobbing Topher through Hammersmith.
I've made some drastic decisions since then. I am currently 'between jobs' and where I end up in a years time is anyone's guess. It's a slightly unsettling but exciting feeling.
I met a mate at the hotel earlier who is now living in LA and heard myself basically saying my future is up for grabs and I don't care. Sitting here now though I still accept that the more day to day and material matters will also have an impact on my plans. That's where i've realised the sheer effort that successful people put into their lives. Some things do just happen to you; winning the lottery or having cancer. But other things have to be worked for. Hard. I've had the cancer so now if i want to continue my trips to the Sunset Strip i'm going to have to return to a little normality.
I'm looking forward to it.
Oh... and I also got a tattoo to commemorate the occasion... For real. It was the weirdest thing. As I was lying there on my back staring at the ceiling with a feeling like someone was etching letters into my skin with a white hot shard of glass, all I could think of was April 21 2012 when I was lying on another bed waiting for a man to come and tell me that my body had betrayed me. The pain from the needle felt like a scratch from a thorn after remembering that.
