Alive

Thursday morning, I got the e-mail telling me that we’re not sure the treatment is working.

Thursday afternoon, my priest and I met with the bishop, and I got the go-ahead to start the Process (tm) here.

Episcopalians know what that means. It’s code for "discernment"; it's the first step toward ordination. All I want to do is take the sacraments to the river. I choose to seek the church’s blessing, and I just may get it.

You take your Yeses as they come.

My bishop knew from Facebook that I’m in chemo. Of course he asked about my health. I wondered if it might be an impediment. It wasn’t. He was compassionate, not paternalistic. The feeling I got was, if I’m willing to risk jumping into the process, with the understanding of time that I have, he’s willing to support me.

I’ve written this post in my head a hundred times. I’m still not at terms with what I’m feeling. I don’t know how to describe the space between medical worry and affirmation of call. Joy, relief, sadness, and a fierce, fierce hope.

I’ve known for two and a half years that all I really know I have is now. I am still fully alive, and fully called into life. You embrace life as long and as well as you can.