A life sentence

"I do not look at cancer as a death sentence," Ken told those who gathered at a National Cancer Survivors Day event in Alamosa, Colorado. "I see it as a life sentence."

He explained that as a retired paramedic with a terminal diagnosis of metastasized lung cancer, he feels blessed to have the opportunity to get his affairs in order. During his career, he attended to many accident victims who were either already dead when his ambulance got to the scene, or who died in transit to the hospital. Their opportunity to seek and give forgiveness, resolve conflict, speak important words to loved ones, say goodbye even -- gone. He encouraged us to do these things today, and especially, to live our lives to the fullest...NOW.

Karen, another speaker, survived ovarian cancer and said she no longer puts off pursuing her interests. "If you have a dream, go after it," she said. "Without delay."

I look at the penny propped in the business card holder on my desk in our kitchen. My dream is to tell the story of its journeys in circulation; to link people together across this vast nation over the possibility that this penny has passed through their hands, their lives.

I've just completed another rewrite on my manuscript and have a team of readers reviewing it before resubmitting it to my agent so she can submit it to more publishing houses. We've got about a dozen rejections so far; among them, imprints of HarperCollins, Random House, Simon & Schuster.

But I am not deterred. No doubt my determination has a lot to do with the fact that I survived cancer six years ago. Thanks to Ken, I now see that as the time I was handed a life sentence. Or, perhaps more appropriately in my case, a life CENTence.