A six-month check up yesterday has me thinking back two years to when I was in the middle of radiation treatments for breast cancer.  What a contrast between now and then!

But I also find similarities between now and then, as well.

 

 

I’ll start with how I looked.  This is from almost two years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this selfie is from this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big contrast, huh? At least when it comes to hair (or lack thereof).

Two years ago I had an outing with a friend to the Shirley Miller Wildflower Trail.  I could barely make it around the boardwalk and had to sit and rest a bunch of times.

But gosh, it was good to be outside and enjoying the wildflowers!

This weekend, I went by myself to the same place.  I spent a couple of hours mostly on my feet, sitting now and then, taking lots of photos of the exquisite little flowers.

And gosh, it was good to be outside and enjoying the wildflowers!

Who knew it would take two years for me to get most of my strength and stamina back?  I do remember one of my doctors saying that it took a long time for stamina to return, a long time to recover.

I had no idea it would be two years!

But you know what?  The fact that it has taken this long makes me all the more appreciative.

That’s where I have another comparison.

Both now and two years ago, appreciation was and is a big part of my life.

This week I appreciate a good check up, a clear mammogram, one that comes two and a half years after a breast cancer diagnosis.

I also appreciate wildflowers – as well as being able to walk at a fairly brisk pace up Snodgrass Hill in the battlefield for the first time since pre-cancer.  Two years ago, I appreciated wildflowers – and being able to walk across a parking lot.

Both years, spring is especially sweet, especially blessed.  Bradford pear trees blooming, forsythia blooming, daffodils and tulips blooming.

And wildflowers.  Lots of wildflowers.

Then and now.

I feel lots of appreciation both now and then.

Lots and lots.

 

The photos with more green are from two years ago.  That was two weeks later than this year’s photos – after a very warm winter.  The brown background photos are from this year – after a much colder winter.  The flowers are on a later schedule this year.