| Voltaire
once said that God was a comedian playing for an audience that was
afraid to laugh. Of course Voltaire never had the big C.
The first
time I heard I had cancer I wanted to cover myself up from the
sun. Though my mother once said that you can't attract a man at
the beach by wearing an overcoat and a big hat.
(IMAGE OF
ME ON BEACH WITH SURFERS)
… Guess
my mother was wrong.
It's strange
having a disease that people can't say by name. It doesn't make
people laugh it makes them want to start running screaming into
the night, or go surfing.
(SURFERS LEAVE
FOR OCEAN)
Of course,
some can't say the word breast either. But
that's another story.
(AS I SIT
DOWN ON BOARDWALK)
I always knew
you can laugh so hard you have to cry but I learned you can cry
so hard you have to laugh. This is my odyssey.
(DIGGING BEGINS)
Journal entry
- Three business days away from completing my treatment. Maybe
that's my problem - I am still thinking in business days. Before
cancer, BC, I'd bound out of bed, race to the computer, negotiate
four deals… Now the alarm rings, I wake up… I'm done
for the day. I'm alive.
(JUST BEFORE
ME WITH LONG HAIR IN DRS. HALLWAY)
And
crisis brings out parts of yourself you never knew existed.
(IMAGE OF ME GETTING ACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT)
Chinese medicine says cancer is a break in the mind-body-spirit
connection. Just exactly when did I take a detour and ignore my
body. It's such a journey.
(AT END OF
FILM APPROX. 12:00 - IMAGE OF ME ON BEACH AGAIN WALKING TOWARDS
OCEAN)
My
father-in-law was a survivor of the Bataan Death March in World
War II. One out of ten survived from the beginning of the March
till the end of the war. He said that it wasn't strength that
separated those that survived from those that didn't. It was humor.
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