|
|
Deleted ScenesDeleted Scene #13Chapter Five: The New Ordering PrincipleSection: Untitled Intro EssayCommentary: This thirteenth "deleted scene" was just some text that did not make the translation from the last section of Chapter 4 to the intro mini-essay of Chapter 5. I may have made this cut myself, or Mark cut it for pacing. I include it simply because I like the detail it provides about having to let go of past connections and embrace new ones, thus altering many rule sets in the process. Deleted Scene: How Vonne and I Survive Emily's Cancer As A Couple[TEXT BEGINS] How Vonne and I survived Emily's cancer as a couple was by imagining a future beyond the koyaanisqatsi we found ourselves trapped within. We imagined a home in balance, both internally and within a larger community of family and friends. The process of maintaining that balance is never ending, but it was never more difficult than through those dark days of struggle with the cancer stalking our first born. It was tempting, throughout that scary process, to give into all sorts of temptation, to engage in all sorts of disconnectedness. Some disconnectedness, of course, was necessary. We had to isolate Emily most of the time simply to keep her alive through all the immune-system depressions triggered by the chemo. But we sought out other ways to remain connected. We found a smaller, more intimate church. Family members flew to our aid from all over the country, providing us more visits than we could have otherwise enjoyed. We started an email diary of Emily's daily struggle, which was shared around the country with not just family and friends, but dozens and dozens of strangers who prayed for Emily each day. Those emails eventually morphed into an online book, which links our experience to those who have followed.1 In short, Vonne and I sought out ownership of the challenge, faith in a shared future, and connectivity to the outside world during a period in our lives when our deepest instincts screamed NO! to all three choices. These were the hardest decisions both of us have ever made, but making them under those difficult conditions has left us healthier, wealthier, and wiser in the end. [TEXT ENDS] [1] Thomas P.M. Barnett and Vonne M. Meussling-Barnett, The
Emily Updates: A Year in the Life of a Three-Year-Old Struggling with
Cancer, |
Putnam, 2004 |
