As I packed all the essential items I need for my sprint triathlon last week­end, I reflected on what I would need for courage for a successful com­ple­tion.

My cues for courage are not objects like a bike or a wet suit. My cues are real people. Real people who embody what it is to be brave.

One trait of courage is the ability to “feel fear, and yet choose to act.”

I witness this fear and bravery in both …

“If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changing.”

With these lyrics to his well-known song, “The Times They Are A-Changin,” Bob Dylan spoke about the unrest of the 1960’s. The tune, first released in 1964, is still a useful way to talk about my life today.

You see, no matter how hard I try, life keeps changing.

Change is just …

Two weeks ago, I was on top of my game. I was training for a sprint triathlon, joined a masters swim team, and participating in a strength class.

A little history: I have been a participant in the Roaring Fork Women’s Tri­athlon Team for 18 years. We meet twice a week, in the summer, for coach­ing and training. For me, it is my adult summer camp. Besides, this team has been phenomenally supportive to me through the ups and downs …

A three-story high evergreen grows in the corner of my yard. The majestic tree shades a small patch of the front yard and continually drops loads of pine needles, creating an acidic soil. The second story of our townhouse looms over the little yard, so little rain reaches the soil. 

In the 30 years we have lived here, I have battled these adverse con­di­tions to try and grow flowers. After many failures, only four perennials return each spring to provide …

In February, I endured a record run of “lost days.”

If you are a cancer patient, you know what a lost day is. It is a day you feel groggy, unfocused, and you sleep a lot.

I can’t accomplish anything on a lost day. Really, I can’t remember many details of a lost day. This phenomenon could be due to a medical pro­cedure, the myeloma treatments I receive, or even trauma.

For four months, I would experience a lost day …

The sky is big and blue with gauzy clouds, and the hillsides populated with strange shapes of cacti and spiky grasses. This is the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument near the border between Arizona and Mexico. I was struck by the harsh alien beauty. We camped three nights there, hiked, attended ranger talks at night, and learned lots about the cacti. The night was quiet and dark because of the distance from towns. Every campsite was bordered by its own …

In our family, my husband Mark is the caregiver for me. It wasn’t always that way.

For the first 25 years, we were equal partners. We raised two sons, bal­anc­ing demands of careers and the challenges of parenting. Our lives were not easy, but wonderful and rich. Our children grew up, and we found more time for our personal passions; athletics for me and rock hunting for him.

Six and half years ago, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. …