Now we suddenly find ourselves, across the globe, together in our isolation as we hide out from the latest enemy - the pandemic. Nothing in my lifetime has caused such a devastating upheaval as this — cancer didn’t even come close. At least cancer treatment had a finite ending and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t die. Afterwards, I thought rehabilitation and recovery would be my biggest obstacle to returning back to my “normal” life in a timely manner. But not long after I finished cancer treatments, my “normal” life was turned upside down, along with most everyone else’s.

I’m writing this blog post while stuck in paradise — Koh Samui, Thailand. It seems like going through the cancer experience a few months ago was just practice for the pandemic that took hold shortly after I finished my treatments. It has left me longing for the simpler times when cancer was the biggest of my worries, and I didn’t have an inkling that a virus could bring life to a standstill and global economies crashing.

I’m pondering the start of the Chinese lunar new year. It is the year of the rat, and the new moon is in Aquarius, out of the eclipse cycle. I read a fascinating horoscope from Chani Nicholas and I want to include a quote here because it really solidified where I’m at at this moment in my life, nearly ending the period of cancer treatment and thinking about what lies next for me.