Illinois ladies facing bc

Happy Easter &. Passover! Hope you find the chocolate bunny wrapped up with the afikomen!

When we have our own "why" of life, we can bear almost any "how." -Friedrich Nietzsche

Winter refuses to go away. Cold rain all day, slop overnight into tomorrow, flurries & snow showers on & off all through the weekend. Fri. we won't even get up to freezing. At least it won't stick. (But 36 years ago this week we got 8" and the temp plunged to 18F). Kinda hard to rake all the winter's detritus from the lawn when it's cold and sopping wet and heavy...

Deep inside, our integrity sings to us whether we are listening or not.
It is a note that only we can hear. Eventually, when life makes us ready
to listen, it will help us to find our way home.

Rachel Naomi Remen

If humans are to survive, we will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between people and between cultures. We will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear. -Gene Roddenberry

He who can give thanks for little
will always find he has enough.
- Anonymous

I've been visiting this board for the past 18 months and have appreciated the advice and wisdom you've all been willing to share. Many of you helped me unknowingly, especially during the early days of my diagnosis. Thank you!! I'm looking forward to getting to know some of the 'Illinois ladies.'

I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in 2016. As I was doing my research, I was surprised to learn that up to 30 percent of early stage breast cancers (stages 0 – 3) will eventually progress to metastatic disease, but less than 5% of all funds raised in the name of breast cancer actually go towards researching this terminal stage of disease, stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. After finishing treatment I felt the need to do 'something.' I decided to get involved with Metavivor, a charity that donates 100% of all funds raised to research for stage 4 breast cancer.

I have met many amazing people through my experience, including Lianne Kraemer, a young woman currently battling stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Lianne is organizing a Metsquerade, a formal fundraiser benefitting Metavivor. The inaugural Chicago Metsquerade, a sit down dinner for 300, with silent and live auctions, dinner and dancing, will be held in Chicago May 11, 2018. Metsquerade benefitting Metavivor has been held in Arkansas with great success the past two years. In 2018, Metsquerades will be held in four cities across the country, including Chicago.

I am not able to post a link, but if you have questions or would like to learn more about the event, please private message me. We would love to have you join us!

One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms.One has to embrace the world like a lover.One has to accept pain as a condition of existence.One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing.One needs a will stubborn in conflict, but apt always to total acceptance of every consequence of living and dying. -Morris L. West

Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.Success depends upon using it wisely—by planning and setting priorities. -Denis Waitely

"The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart."

– Robert G. Ingersoll

The answer to helplessness is not so very complicated. A person can do something for peace without having to jump into politics.Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If we listen to it and act on it, we are giving a great deal of what the world needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes courage for a person to listen to his or her own goodness and act on it. Do we dare to be ourselves? This is the question that counts. -Pau Casals

"Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier."

– Albert Schweitzer

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter."

-- Rachel Carson

Nature has given to each conscious being every power she possesses, and one of these abilities is this:just as Nature converts and alters every obstacle and opposition, and fits them into their predestined place, making them a part of herself, so too the rational person is able to finesse every obstacle into an opportunity, and to use it for whatever purpose it may suit. -Marcus Aurelius