I’ve always liked to write. At school, in my journals, letters to family and friends, it was just something that I liked to do. But writing for publication? Or for more than a letter grade or to communicate with my inner circle? Nah…there was always some excuse keeping me from even attempting to write for publication. However, at some point I started to realize that blogs and social media are a form of publication in today’s world and maybe something that I could do. But it wasn’t until I was diagnosed with breast cancer and started reading blogs written by members of the BC community, that I started to think maybe I really should try to blog. However, it wasn’t until I was going through some rough times dealing with my life post-BC diagnosis and treatment and reached out to find a therapist and lucked out with a rock star who gently nudged me to try to create a blog, that I found the motivation to risk creating Searching for EMWA.I remember being so nervous about starting this blog. Would anyone read it? And if they did, would they even like my writing? I wanted to practice my writing and get in on the kind of support and community that others were finding through their writing and recognition as decent writers, but did I have what it would take? Needless to say, creating my About was terrifying. But I did it. And I’ve gone on to create over 150 posts in these (nearly) five years. Not bad. Anyway, here is my ‘About’ section and I am off to bed! 🙂

About

November 18, 2012

In my late-twenties, I came up with an acronym that seemed to reflect what I was looking for in a special someone: EMWA or Expand My World Ability. I realized I was looking for someone to go on adventures with and who would expose me to new ways of thinking, new cultures and new experiences. I realized that not only was I looking for EMWA in men, this seemed to be the mantra of my life. In going 8 hours away from my suburban Detroit home for my undergraduate degree: Searching for EMWA. Ski bumming the winter of 1992 in Colorado and joining the Peace Corps the same year: Searching for EMWA. Recruiting for Peace Corps for 5 years upon my return to the US: Searching for EMWA. Living in Los Angeles for 2 years and teaching on Chicago’s South Side for 8 years—4 of those while attending Loyola Chicago’s Graduate Public History program: Searching for EMWA. Meeting my husband nearly 11 years ago: Finding EMWA.

In the process of searching for EMWA, I have found it and expanded my world greatly. But just like the saying “the more you know, the more you know you don’t know,” I realize the more I experience and find EMWA, the more there is to experience. I will always be searching for and finding EMWA.

Which brings us to Fall 2011. My husband and I were 2 years into our New Orleans experience, I was teaching at my second local charter high school–which I was ‘cautiously optimistic’ about–and I was finally having my baseline mammogram that I had put off for 3 years. Needless to say, I was not at all prepared for the EMWA that was about to hit my life. A suspicious mammogram my first time out? Seriously???? Breast cancer at age 43 with no family history?? Please.

I started a Caring Bridge blog within days of my diagnosis and you will find most of these posts added to this blog. These will cover the immediate ‘treatment’ phase of my life with breast cancer. This blog is more about my journey now that I am a member of the breast cancer community and my continued searching for EMWA—and what I find.

So, to begin. My world was expanded with a simple breast cancer diagnosis…

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