Time Is a River

There are times when things fall into my path. I used to avoid things that happened to me like that, I'd do my best to step around them, jump over them, close my eyes and pretend I didn't see. I no longer do that. If something presents itself in my path I know it's there for a reason. I now stop, look, pick it up, examine it, whatever is required.

"Time Is a River" by Mary Alice Monroe is one of those path blockers. Yes, it's another book. Yes, it's another book I read in one day. I even turned my light on again at midnight when I decided it was time to sleep. I had just less than 100 pages to read. I didn't want to wait until morning.

This is a wonderful read for anyone, but it is especially wonderful and valuable for breast cancer thrivers. It is a book I would highly recommend to anyone who has just been diagnosed, who is in the middle of treatment or who has completed treatment and working back into the mainstream of life. It would also be a wonderful read for anyone who knows someone who has become a companion of breast cancer. But having or having had breast cancer is not a prerequisite to enjoy this story and benefit from the insights shared by the author.

Fly fishing is the theme of the story. I'm not a fish person. I've been fishing less than 5 times in my life. I never considered fishing something that would appeal to me. Now that I've read this book? I'm hooked (pun completely and utterly intended). I remember my mother telling me that my grandmother would sit in a boat for hours and fish when she was at the cottage. Something within me resonates with that idea. How calming, peaceful and relaxing, just being one with nature, whether in a boat or standing in a river being part of the current. Those feelings, that reality, is a gift of breast cancer for me...feeling more a part and piece of nature and life than I ever did before.

The story begins with Mia Landen recovering from breast cancer and going to the mountains in North Carolina to participate in a program called Casting for Recovery which is a support group aimed at helping with support for breast cancer. There is much more, so much more to this incredible story. Read it. Please.

There are so many descriptions and experiences in this book that I related to and it is the first book I have read about life and breast cancer that has come close to describing how I feel about my own experience. I marvelled that Mary Alice Monroe could know my thoughts so well!

This excerpt at the end of the book stands out clearly for me as coming the closest to explaining the experience ~

Mia felt a surge of emotion as she looked out over the water, assessing the river and her mood. She felt a calm wash over her, determining her course. Slowly she moved upstream, her felt-soled boots sliding over the slippery pebbles as she made her way to the middle of the stream. When she reached the center she stopped and felt the gravel shift and settle in the silt beneath her feet. Lifting her chin, she took a good look around.

On one side the current ran quick and strong in brilliant, shallow water. On the other side dense shrubs that hung over the edge of the bank provided cover where fish could hide and feel safe. She remembered back to when she was sick and thought she might die. It was like standing in the middle of a river, wondering which bank she needed to prepare for. On one side life moved on. On the other, all was stillness. She had felt so alone and afraid, not knowing to which bank she would drift.

Now she was standing knee deep but steady in the river, facing the current head-on, her rod at the ready.

A note about Casting For Recovery.

Casting For Recovery is a national non-profit, support and educational program for women who have or have had breast cancer. They believe that "to fish is to hope".

Casting for Recovery® (CFR), founded in 1996, is a national non-profit support and educational program for breast cancer survivors. We enhance the lives of breast cancer survivors by offering no-cost retreats tailored to promote and support mental and physical healing through shared experiences and the learning of new skills. At the end of 2008 we have served 3,500 women through the delivery of 269 retreats, helped by over 1,000 volunteers nationwide.

For more information check their main website here; for their website in Canada click here, for their website in the UK, click here.