Cancer’s Carousel Ride

A week ago, the chemo curls were long enough to where I pulled out my hair product and accessories. I felt like a girl again. Less than a week ago, knowing the nightmare of watching my hair fall out and me too vain to have it shaved, I went in for the hip-grandma look of what is essential a female’s butch cut. This halted some of my joy. It halted some of my fantasy that I was a normal person again—like one who doesn’t live her life around cancer every day.

Why I Wrote “Isu Learns to Swim”

Northern elephant seals (NES) are really more weird than most other marine mammals. They migrate from roughly the Bering Strait and the north Pacific twice a year to mostly California beaches mainland and islands, and northern Baja California islands. The topography of the beach must be just so. The first haul out is to shed their fur (and rest and regain their muscle tone); then they mosey on back to give birth and breed on the beach

Our Interconnectedness Revealed

The first inkling I had on this interconnected business was in 2004 when I was in treated for breast cancer. I told my oncologist that I was slipping out from Santa Fe, NM for a bit, and going to go hang out at the beach.  The oncologist, who reminded me of a Norman Rockwell character of a doctor, said, “Excellent idea. The ocean is our primordial connection. But don’t get a sunburn!”