And The Beat Goes On… a guest blog from Leslie

Well, after 3 years or so it is time to introduce Leslie to you all. Leslie about whom this blog is and our journey with her encounter with cancer back in 2010, just after we were married.

This is Leslie’s post about recovery,

One thing about this ‘recovery’ business is just that – the recovery. Over the past three years I have been recovering not just from things but to things. I have recovered my curiosity, my creativity and my drive. Though in fact I have to re – cover all of that and sleep for copious hours in order to recover my energy.
Recovery: – noun – the act of returning to normal, the process of regaining health, improvement, the act of regaining possession.
Wow that is a lot to be getting on with just for starters. Within all that though is the being aware and awake to all that has happened, is happening and could yet happen.
That last part is the most interesting piece of the puzzle because the largest proportion of that is within my remit.
Yes I have the final say in how that goes.
Right in the middle of all this convalescing was the connection – the perspective of all the dots being joined.
As a youngster I loved those join the dot puzzles, did you? They are a good pointer for life though we don’t recognise it at the time and some of us not until we are way down the road we should have turned off of.
All the things I have experienced and learned, all the situations that seemed random at the time, all the people who came into or left my life, the who, the how, the when, even the why is clearer with perspective.
If we are too close to the puzzle we may miss the whole picture.
All of these conspired (?) to bring me to this space and time with these life experiences.
All have allowed me to take this challenge on without the burden of fear, and that has made all the difference.
In the wee small hours when fear lurks in the shadows of your mind and you seek out the memories of times gone by and begin the wishful thinking, ‘I wish I had done that, said that, seen that, etc.’
That is the time to say, ‘ah I am so glad I did that, met them, understood that, was there for that, ‘how strong was that person how would they deal with this?’
Trace the map of your dots back in time and be grateful for ALL OF THAT because in there is the picture of how to get through THIS!
Sometimes is seems like it is taking forever, and time is such a precious commodity, now – when we are late in the day and suddenly there is still so much to do – but wait…there is no waste of time when you are in recovery because you are taking your time to re-connect with yourself and to learn the new rhythm, learn to dance to the drum of this new dance…and the beat goes on.