I have favorite words. Words I just like to say, that roll off my tongue, make me happy to say them. Silly things like Piscataway (a town in New Jersey), I’ve never been there but I love the way it feels to say it! Conundrum is a good one. Of course my sister would say “piece” is one of my all time favorites. A piece of work, a piece of advice, a piece of interest-a lot of ways to use that one! Hmmm..What are some other words I just enjoy-cockamamie, ebullient is lovely and so are luscious and divine.
There are words that I just have a hard time saying and sometimes spelling too! For example, the word AWKWARD! Well there it is, it says what it is! As well as caricature, I can never articulate it just right. Then there are words people just can’t stand hearing or saying. One of my college friends used to hate the word phlegm; we would say it to her over and over again to just to see her cringe (What can I say, we were girls in college!!)
My mom couldn’t and wouldn’t say the word cancer. She called it the C-word--- “No one in our family has had the C-word. No worries there. “ I don’t think she could even say it as she lost two of her dearest friends to cancer. Then she got pancreatic cancer. Still, she did not want to say the word. Funny how a word like cancer is not hard to say- and yet it holds so much weight.
Weighted with fear, the unknown, loss. My Mom got to exit well as one of the doctors said. She was fourth stage; no chemo, no radiation due to an aneurysm she had close to her pancreas. She got to spend her three months around the people she loved. Spending time with people who meant the most to her. And she still did not like the word cancer and I could understand why.
My friend Betsy named her breast cancer “Hoot” or maybe it was just her boob she named “Hoot.” (Not sure about that :-) She had bracelets made up that said, “Toot for Hoot.” You’d have to know her sense of humor—she’s really really funny. When I got diagnosed, my brother in law kept saying we had to evict the invader and that’s exactly what I did!
Use your words purposefully. They are powerful. Create a vision that works for you to fight, to overcome, and to eject the cancer from your body!
What would you say to your cancer? What name would you give it? What do you have to say?