I love having a local magazine– one that features the best shops, restaurants, and stories about neighbors. It’s not uncommon for me to see a familiar face in the pages of Arlington Magazine. What is uncommon? To see my own face on those pages. And yet, there it is, complete with my name at the byline and Sally’s with her first in-print photo credit. Subscribers already have their copies, and Autumn assures me that covet and other local shops will have copies on the newsstands sometime this week.
Regular blog readers will recognize parts of this essay, where I was privileged to share a little about my journey through breast cancer and why I’m uncomfortable with the term survivor. The editor suggested the title: “Triumph of Ambivalence,” and I have to admit that I did a little googling before I agreed. But simply defined, ambivalence refers to mixed feelings– having both positive and negative feelings about something at the same time. And yes, I suppose that describes how I feel about being called a survivor.
Emma Clare looked at it and read the deck (look- I even learned some technical publishing talk!) and asked why the term “survivor” just didn’t feel right. I explained to her that I didn’t survive breast cancer because I’m better, stronger, or more godly. I wouldn’t people to think that. “Well, you’re not.”
But she quickly recovered. “You’re more of a domestic goddess.” Guess I’ll take that.
Domestic goddess, signing out.