My hero is back

OK, I've been a little slow on the uptake, lazy about researching it, and so I haven't heard anything about what's going on in the life of one of my favorite blog heroes, Liz. She used to have a wonderful blog called Granny Gets a Vibrator, but that fell by the wayside when she was diagnosed with lymphoma last year. Even the archives were taken down. I would check the page sometimes, and look at her son's blog once in a while to see if there was any news, but there was very little.

Until I went there today and found that she is in NED-land. And that she has a whole other blog.

And so, I have spent this entire, snow-filled morning allowing the dajamou to watch extra TV -- allegedly because she's coming down with a cold, partly because I have a red-wine hangover, but mostly because I had this visceral NEED to read all four months of archives at the new blog to find out what's been going on.

I can't tell you how much I admire this woman. I know that I am seeing about one one-hundredth of one percent of what her life is about. But she is so articulate, so witty, so open, so freaking REAL in the way she writes and shares that .01%, that I feel like I know her, and want to know her better.

Reading her cancer blog has a new relevance for me as well, since my friend was just diagnosed with leukemia. It could not have come at a better time to read that someone else I know and care about (however remote and unreal the knowing and caring allegedly may be) is fighting and so far winning the battle with cancer.

My friend's journey into The Big Ick is just beginning, and I know absolutely nothing about what she's going to go through, besides what I've seen in movies and TV shows. Which? Not the most reliable or accurate source of knowledge. But something in my heart has eased a bit, knowing that Liz is kicking the ass of her tumor. And I'm feeling a little stronger knowing what my friend might be dealing with, and perhaps knowing a bit more of what I might be able to do to help.

It's probably transitory and I'm probably still harboring a lot of misconceptions and I just might be blowing sunshine out my ass. But I'm going to cling to this feeling while I can.