9. The word's out

Thornton-Cleveleys, January 2016

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”  Marcel Proust

The word's out.
The grateful wishes come flooding in with cards, flowers, gifts,phone calls, visits. You know it's more than a cough and cold when you have to ask your mum to nip out to buy some more vases. It's like a florists on Piccadilly station.

Cancer evokes such an emotional response in us all. It's like there's no control, and no way to tame it.

Over the last year, I've found that people respond in different ways:

• THE FROZEN. The don't-know-what-to-say people.
• THE INFO-GIVERS. The sending-links-galore people
• THE PRACTICALS. The keen-to-shop-clean-garden-and-mend people. 

 All gripped by fear and motivated by love?

Chris, an good friend from Uni, sent me 'Mum's not having chemo' by Laura Bond.
A book I'd recommend as a great source of information. Sounds gimmicky but it's not. It's well written, resourceful and entertaining and especially if like me you don't know where to start and are feeling a bit overwhelmed. Understatement.