With your support we made it!
YES! We made it! Shonnie’s breast cancer diagnosis in November and Gracelyn’s intuitive sense that it was essential to remain near her mom at all times, led to weeks of unsettledness and uncertainty for our little family.
Yes, the three of us showed compassion, resilience, and willingness along with holding a positive vision for our future together. We loved one another, held each other close, and did our spiritual work to maintain our balance, health, and connectedness.
But here’s the thing: the support that hundreds of y’all offered during this challenging time sustained Shonnie, as well as Gracelyn and me, in so many ways that it’s difficult to recount them all. Cards, gift cards, notes, emails, texts, comments, likes, flowers, prayers, healing energy, Suzannah’s spiritual ceremony, plus all the scrumptious dishes—all of which nourished and supported our bodies and our spirits during Shonnie’s successful surgery and her impressive recovery at home.
I want to give a special shout-out to the grandmothers—Grandma Deb and Grandma Jeri—who each dropped everything and came to Asheville for consecutive weeks to do whatever needed to be done—cooking, washing dishes, cleaning, washing, folding clothes, holding hands, and much more. I don’t know how we could have done it without y’all!
Shonnie is doing great, now regularly participating in cycling classes at the Y. All tests indicate that she is cancer-free, and our vision is for her to remain that way. Gracelyn is back at school full-time and is willing to venture out on her own once again. Me? I’m doing OK if I could finally rid myself of the upper respiratory bug that seems to want to hang on. Even getting back to a little writing. And the unanticipated gifts for the three of us in all of this have been a renewed sense of connection and a greater willingness to forgive, to seek forgiveness, to love as if there’s no tomorrow.
Throughout this adventure, we have been reawakened to the power of community in our lives—the Evergreen community, the Hibriten/Pearson Avenue community, the Jubilee community (and Yona’s powerful blessing there), the More To Life community—friends from yesteryear and the present, folks from far and near. It would be nearly impossible to list everyone who stepped forward. But you know who you are, and each of you have our heartfelt love and everlasting gratitude. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Bruce, Shonnie & Gracelyn
