After a week of visiting my dear friend Kirsti, I find myself feeling inspired about life. My friend has a rare form of cancer called “clear cell” and she is undergoing chemo. She had chemo and radiation about a year ago,  so this is her second round of chemo. She is a fitness teacher and is incredibly strong. In between her chemo treatments, she teaches her fitness classes at the gym! As soon as she feels better, which is about week after her treatment, she is off to the gym! I find this absolutely amazing! It’s like she is giving cancer the finger as saying, “I will not surrender!” In this picture she still has her hair 3 treatments in. However, she just told me she is starting to lose it. This upsets her deeply, and I can’t blame her! I mean look at her hair, it’s gorgeous!!

My friend inspires me to understand that some things are out of our control and we just have to flow with the journey. She lost her son 2-1/2 years ago and then 8 months later she found out she had cancer. And yet, she can still smile and joke with me.  Of course she still deeply mourns her son, but she is managing to push forward, chugging along the path she has been given. It reminds me that all of us have incredible  inner strength and faith, you just have to let go of the need to control every aspect of your life. Sometimes, we just need to ride the wave and see where we end up.

What inspires you?