The day after the biopsy, it was my birthday. I was 35 years old. So, I took the day off work. I was still a bit shattered from the biopsy and it was the perfect day to take off. And, unbelievably, the sun shone! It was a gorgeous Summer's day. Now that I look back at it, it was perfect in so many ways.
We decided to go to the beach and have a bar-b-q. Just me, Dave and the two kids. We got one of those disposable bar-b-q's, loaded up everything and off we went. We had sausages, spare ribs, salad, crisps and bread. Doesn't everything taste so much better when it's bar-b-q-ed and eaten on the beach!. It was roasting hot and we had great fun. I dipped my toes into the water and thought it was freezing, so I didn't go for a swim. We threw stones into the water and walked all along the beach looking for crabs. It was a fantastic, family day.
We were just another, ordinary family enjoying the sunshine. Mommy wasn't sick yet. Nor was she tired or "different" or bald or away in hospital. The kids did not know what cancer was. Dave's wife was not ill. We were just normal.
It was my last birthday before I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. I was just me and not Isabel with Breast Cancer. I will never have that day again. When the sun shone, Thomas was 6 years old and Joshua was 3 years old, Dave was not worried about his wife's health and I was so blissfully happy.
