Thursday, July 19, 2012

Small Potatoes...

This expression made its way into my vocabulary at the beginning of this Big C journey (thanks Auntie Mo).  It's one of those things that stuck too.  A flat tire, burnt toast, skinned-knee...small potatoes.  Stage 2 breast cancer, mastectomy, found in one lymph node, chemo for several cycles, radiation for 7 weeks...in the throws of it all this doesn't really seem to be small potatoes, but in the grand scheme of things, it's temporary, it will be over soon, and in comparison to what it could be, I guess you could say small potatoes (or maybe medium sized?).  Life deals out lots of small potatoes.

Small stuff=small potatoes; we shouldn't sweat it.  We are equipped to deal with it, we have coping skills.  Getting angry because we waited too long in a traffic light is a waste of time and energy; talk about small potatoes...really, that's a french fry for goodness sake.  Save your time and energy for the Big Ass Yams that may come your way.  

The thing is, in the middle of this journey, things are really put into perspective and it's "easy" to remember not to fret over the small things. Six months from now, when things are relatively back to "normal", I may have to make a conscious effort not to freak out over the "small potatoes".  I will quickly be reminded of the time when the Big C intruded and it felt like I was slammed by a 50 lb bag of the biggest potatoes I've ever encountered.  It's easy to  become complacent and "forget" when we move on and are not in the middle of the muck.  It's human nature I suppose.  One thing's for sure; I'm a changed girl....forever.  And perhaps this changed girl will at least allow herself more time to reflect while she is in the middle of spazzing out because there are too many weeds in her garden.  






You can thank me later for getting the Small Potatoes Theme Song in your head.

“It is easy to halve the potato where there is love.”

-Irish Saying

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