Amelia

I'm still thinking about the movie Amelia. I really enjoyed it. I couldn't help but think about my parents as I was watching it. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She did this in 1932. My Mom was 9 years old then. Younger than Earhart, obviously, but still close enough to that generation to make me think of her when watching the people in the movie.

And, in thinking of her, it occurred to me...I really wish I could have the opportunity to talk to my Mom about her experience with breast cancer. Funny I've never thought about that before. But, there is so much I don't know. I should know these things, but I don't. How did she happen to be diagnosed? Was it just a routine exam like me, or did she suspect it and schedule an appointment?

Her cancer was diagnosed 22 years before mine, so things were different then. She had a mastectomy but I wonder if she had other options and just elected to do that. She was more fortunate than I in that after surgery she went on Tamoxifen for 5 years but did not have to undergo any other treatments. No chemo...no radiation. However, she was also beginning to exhibit symptoms of Alzheimers at the same time...the disease that would eventually claim her life.

I want to pour a couple of cups of coffee, sit down face to face and talk about how she processed it...how she dealt with it...and how she felt. I really, really feel like I want to do that.

Unfortunately, I can't.

Later