Early on in the blogumentation of Cathy's cancer journey I wrote that we would experience a lot of ups and downs.  We have.  The ups and downs have been emotional and physical.  We've been through two-plus months of cancer now and have ridden the roller coaster of contrasting highs and lows.  The beginning was full of sharp lows associated with each piece of new information we received.  In all, the low points seemed to have been, and continue to be, more pronounced and obvious.  We are talking about cancer here.  This is not something that people look forward to or celebrate.  The ups have come from relationships and interactions with other people and connections that we make between ourselves, others, and God's will for us.  They don't seem to be as high as the downs seem low, but each of the ups are clearly up, bringing love, support, care, confidence, perspective, and many other attributes that are psychologically important in this battle.

I suppose that if I drew a graph of the ups and downs (which I can't quite do in the blog world) it would be characterized by sharp points that extend down and long, smooth, high arches that extend up.  The graph, if shown over time, would have a balance of highs and lows with our y value only slightly lower than it was two months ago.  While the whole cancer thing brings the general value down, we have been bolstered by the many blessings of family, friendship, and faith.  We've had our eyes open the whole time trying to see what God wants us to see.  Sometimes that vision has been apparent and other times we know it will take longer to unfold, if we're even given the opportunity to see its unfolding.

If my eyes would stay open a little longer tonight I would continue this discussion of ups and downs, contrasts in life.  There are two particular contrasts that have been playing in my head and will mean something to me if I devote a few words to them.  They will be the subject of the next couple of posts, but for now rest is in order.