Is that Cup Half Empty or Half Full?

On Friday, May 27th, I called my mother just to say "hello."  Her birthday had been the day before and so we'd spoken then, but it's a usual habit for us to talk almost every day.  She sounded down and when I wanted to know why, she asked if I was in a quiet place where we could talk.  I was driving on an errand and had her on speaker-phone so I immediately pulled the car over.  She told me that she had cancer -- a very aggressive type.   I was (understandably) very upset.  To torture myself further I did research.  I found statistics.  I took notes. The cold, hard facts are as follows: even with aggressive treatment, this thing could go either way. 

There will always be things in our lives over which we have no control.  What we do have control over, however, is how we respond.  And so, the question is then, how does one respond to this type of revelation?

In this blog, I present to you my best self, but I have to admit, when the going gets tough, I am just as likely to channel Eeyore ("There are those who will wish you a good morning. If it is a good morning, which I doubt.") or Piglet ("Help, help," cried Piglet, "a Heffalump, a Horrible Heffalump!" and he scampered off as hard as he could, still crying out, "Help, help, a Herrible Hoffalump! Hoff, hoff, a Hellible Horralump! Holl, holl, a Hoffable Hellerump!")  

Responding in the fashion of Eeyore or Piglet is normal and human, but I've needed to go beyond those responses. So... I keep returning to the statistics.  When the odds are 50/50, it seems to me that one can look at the numbers and view them as a "cup half empty" or a "cup half full."

Through these past weeks my mother has been steadfastly maintaining a "cup half full" approach.  She came through surgery a few weeks ago with flying colors and she starts chemotherapy today.  She is strong, determined and has a lot of living to do.  So, I'm going to follow her example.  I've got a firm grip on my cup and am raising it to my perfect, beautiful mother in a toast to love, life, and good health.  And when I raise that cup, it's definitely half full.