Cancer log 5: It’s…

Cancer log 5: It's funny, the things that help. Friends and family, of course, are all the comfort and support that you'd expect. But my two professions are writing and teaching, and I have to tell you, I've been living with this potential illness for several days now, waiting for results, waiting until it was appropriate to inform the family, and it has been really hard keeping quiet online about it.

Some people, I know, prefer to be private, and obviously, whatever gets you through, you do that. But for me, I take refuge in the two things I know how to do, the two things that might even help somebody else. I process by writing (sometimes in a form that's explicitly educational, sometimes not), and I gain comfort from sharing the writing. When I work to make the experience make sense to others, in poetry or prose, it helps it make sense to me too.

Perhaps this is why I started blogging, almost twenty years ago. Did you know that my blog is the third oldest continuous blog on the internet? #themoreyouknow! Blogging has helped me so much over the years, and it would be nothing without the readers. I tried keeping private diaries a few times, but they always fizzled out. This blog, this Facebook, these various forms of speaking -- they've been my therapy, my tool for introspection, my community.

Thanks for listening, people.