Positively Phoebe

I'm so behind at posting about the things I want to post about here.  I mean, I guess being insanely busy is a GOOD thing, but I would like to stay a LITTLE more up to date here. But whatever.  This post isn't about that.  It's about the hike I went on 10 days ago with my friend, Rhiannon.  We are both Instagram addicts and after enjoying my Cancer Retreat hike so much, I kept noticing hiking pics in Rhianon's feed.  So I basically told her to please invite me hiking with her sometime - and she actually did!  We pretty much made an immediate date for that coming Sunday. When said Sunday rolled around, it was rainy out, but we were not deterred.  I used to live in Seattle, for god's sake.  A little rain wasn't going to stop ME!  I picked her up and we headed down to North Chagrin Rsesrvation - part of the amazing Cleveland Metroparks System .  We really are lucky here in Cleveland to have such an incredible parks system.  I...

Or maybe you haven't.  But I am back from the retreat and ready to talk about how it went.  (And to everyone I met there who may be showing up here for the first time - I promise you I am not making anything up just in case you actually come to check this blog out - everything I say here about this weekend's experiences will be completely honest.) That being said... I had a REALLY good time!!!  I talked about my apprehension earlier and by the time all of the other attendees had arrived, my fears were gone.  The three women from The Gathering Place  who were sort of leading the event were just wonderful.  I felt at ease instantly after meeting them and bringing my bags into Standford House  to get settled. We started out by sitting together around (what WOULD HAVE been) the fire pit (if it hadn't rained most of the weekend) and sort of went around the circle introducing ourselves, sharing what type of cancer we had, and what we mig...

I just have to complete my usual morning routine, head to work for a few hours, and then bounce out early to head down to the Young Adult Cancer Retreat. I've been filled with anxiety over this since I signed up.  I even had a dream about it - and the dream was not good.  The idea of shuffling off to spend a weekend with a bunch of strangers is pretty freakin' scary to me, I'm not gonna lie.   Yesterday when I got home from work, our neighbor and good friend, Joe, was standing in his driveway.  He asked me if I was going to see a band I really like tonight and I explained that, no, I would be at this retreat.  Much like Ryan, his response was, "Why?!"  He went on to ask if I felt like it was something I needed to do, and the truth is, I really don't know.  I have had nothing but negative experiences when I've tried to connect with other cancer survivors (except for my spotty online connection with Emily of  http://killingitblog.com/ )...