Starting Over, Catching up and Silver Linings

I'm back in the blog game. 

I didn't mean to take such a long break.  

I had plans for a major change to my blog layout and design for my return.  Instead of a major overhaul, I ended up making some subtle changes.  I'm guessing it looks the same to you.  It pretty much looks the same to me too.

To be honest about the break, I was mentally exhausted and needed a blog break after working on my Team Draft Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge fundraising campaign from January, 2019 until February 2020.  I was all in from November 1, 2019 until Super Bowl Sunday, February 2, 2020 and a then some after that.

I raised a grand total of $13,100. 

Team Draft and I were scheduled to present the $11,790.00 BIG CHECK to Lung Cancer Colorado Fund at the end of March.  We had to cancel the in-person presentation due to Coronavirus and the risks of exposure, restrictions and need for social distancing.

One year on my own.

I still don't feel comfortable going into details on my blog, another reason for the break.  It's time to, at least, let everyone know, I am single and have been for just over one year, officially.  The beginning of May, 2020 marked one year since removing myself from a very toxic relationship, situations and removing my ex from my home and life.  Breakups are crappy.  This one was, no doubt in my mind, The best change I could have made for me and Laynie and at the best time.  It gave me a renewed joy and a sense of freedom to be me, stroke deficits, cancer and all.  It also allowed me to make strides in my stroke recovery.  There was no more holding me back.  I made more improvements in my first couple months without my ex than I did in the whole year and a half after my stroke.  

Quarantine has been treating me well.

Instead of commenting here about the positives that have come to me in self-isolation, I wrote them in a lungcancer.net article, Self Isolation Silver Linings.  

Click HERE

or 

Self-Isolation Silver Linings

to read all the great things that have happened.

Illistration from lungcancer.net Self-Isolation Silver Linings

I'm a poet.

Another cool thing to come out of quarantine was the opportunity to participate in a Writing with Cancer Workshop offered by University of Colorado Cancer Center.  The above article was written before I participated in my first writing session.  Until Coronavirus, these were in-person, in Denver only, sessions.  They are now offering an every other week workshop via Zoom.  From two sessions, I've written three poems.  I will be sharing all of them with you soon.

A beautiful journal that was gifted to me.

My first poem