Saturday, May 15, 2010

Dream Girl's Life


I have a friend who now goes by the name of Dream Girl. I'm not sure why she called herself that because she is currently making her dreams come true instead of just dreaming about them.
I met her this morning at 6 a.m. for a 7 1/2 mile run before she was off to class to be a teacher for special needs students. She finished her first chemotherapy treatment on Thursday.
Last week, she went hiking on the Appalachian Trail. We've gone twice before to do small sections. This time, she went to Springer Mountain, the southern end of the trail and began hiking. She had just recovered enough from the lumpectomy, that removed cancer from her breast and lymph nodes, in time to carry a pack on the trail. She had to schedule the hike carefully so it could fall between the surgery and the chemotherapy.
During our run with the Queen of Anonymity, Dream Girl regaled us with tales from the trail. The weather was perfect, almost too hot. They saw clothes and food discarded along the start of the trail as hikers tried to lighten the load of their packs.
She arrived at a creek and stripped naked to bath in the clear water and the gorgeous nature around her. (Have you seen a video of this anywhere? Just curious if it's gone viral. JK)
On our run this morning, we saw four deer, a racoon, squirrels and birds of all sorts. I felt like I was in a Cinderella movie the way the animals seemed drawn to us. That's the effect that Dream Girl has on nature though. It comes to her.
Dream Girl has a long way to go -- seven more weeks of chemotherapy. She'll lose her shiny brown hair. She plans to keep running with us each week and she's going to start lifting weights again now that she has recovered from surgery and can raise her arms up over her head.
Being fit and healthy is something she's fought for and she isn't going to let it go. Maybe she's being optimistic, and maybe her trail name "Dream Girl" does apply to this situation.
Whatever I can do to help her dreams come true, I'll do.
That may not make me a "Dreamgiver" but I'll definitely work on becoming a "Dream Enabler." Actually, she doesn't need much help. She seems intent on creating her own happy ending.

3 comments:

Sheila said...

and why are you not back on the trail this year? Paris or Appalachian trail...

Linda said...

I like her attitude.

Anonymous said...

Time spent with Dream Girl can take you places you've never been - what a treasure !

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