[Andrea Barnett Budin]

You are all so nice. I knew I loved you. You remind me why. You are all good eggs, even Pinkie. Tehe... An acquired taste. I'm just me. Real. If that doesn't work for you, look elsewhere. But I am here for you all the same.

Thank you Janis. WELCOME JED...! Even without experience I bet you have thoughts, like you just expressed. It is less scary to know than to wonder and let your imagination run wild. Knowledge is power. And this site has helped every single one of us, including me, at low times when it feels like the planet just fell off its axis in our world. JRA I am glad I posted on the Metastatic Breast Cancer Project Working Group. I also joined the quest to facilitate research. That sounds grand, doesn't it. They're more serious, focused on something really important. They do digress from time to time into silly but somehow it was suggested my input was inappropriate for that forum. I wondered aloud why when you get 1,000+ mbc ladies together it is fruitful to compare what's worked and what didn't. Many agreed. And one kind lady, who is evidently well connected w/many friends in the community tagged my page on FB and introduced me to her friends. Who can't get excited meeting an outlier like me as she called me. MIRACLES DO HAPPEN. Here -- meet one.

IT'S MY GOAL TO MAKE AS MANY OF YOU AN OUTLIER TOO! Flori shares generously from her heart and she is a pretty spectacular lady with winning ways who has defied the odds and made her own trail for others like her to follow. Plus she's an artist and shares her skills with pp who need an therapeutic outlet for their angst. The cancer community sure does stir up some raw emotions that need hugs in all forms. Even this far out, yes I HAD cancer, but you never fully escape. The oncs stalk you, worry about you, spring on anything slightly amiss and plunge you into test and biopsies and surgeries to get biopsies and more tests and then waiting for results and you all the while are struggling to keep your chin above water and not let your thoughts run wild. So many come here at those times and need some love and advice and uplifting messages to occupy your brain instead of the ideas that are so full of fear you could plotz. Pinkie, my linguist, do you know plotz? Can you use it in Scrabble? Is it legit?


Tracy you do have a beautiful generosity of Spirit. Thank you for your words. They touch my heart. I sometimes wonder why I am spending so much time on this post or that but the reason is I see that a lot of pp are looking (? lurking) and not all posting for a number of reasons, so I keep doing what I do. It thrills me to hear specifically that I contributed to making your down day turn a bit rosy.

I love your attitude. And that you are tech challenged as well. I got a CD from my dghtr. She looks so fabulous and she's been exercising to the tape. So when she was finished she would give it to me. She did. Wks, mnths passed. I obviously am not getting any younger or thinner. She asked if I... No... I feel compelled to fess up. Neither your father nor I can figure out how to work the CD thing. I recall many yrs ago we were watching some movie and it took us over a half hr to turn the thing on. Then we were too tired to watch it all... Pathetic yet our reality.

Yes, you will live a full lifespan. SEE yourself far far into the future. When my granddaughter was born I had a dream. Calligraphy in green and it said full screen in my head in my dream Jocelyn Taylor. What could that mean? I asked my other dghtr, her mother. Maybe it's her Bat Mitzvah invitation.

I was sold. I began to envision myself at her Bat Mitzvah in 13 yrs. I was so happy and radiant, standing at a circular table, clapping my hands to the music as was my husb and friends and family. Soon Josie walked out onto the dance floor all dressed up. I was glowing, so proud.

Then -- I lived that dream!!! And that was 6 yrs ago. She is now 19...! Off to college.

So I have other dreams I see myself far far into the future. It becomes a self-prophesizing goal. (??? sp) You make it become a reality. And the Universe works with you, as your thoughts and mental images are made of energy and go out from you. The energy you emit is sensed and responded to IN KIND...

So dream your dream, Tracy. Dream several dreams.

Defy the odds and the stupid predictions. This is your life. You are the Captain of your Fate. See your destiny and then live it!

Hugs to all mentioned and those not,
Andi