Author Archives: Emily

STAYING ALIVE

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Emily

We are hurtling toward the Christmas holiday; Hanukkah began last night. But the sun is warming us in what feels like another extended summer. As my son grows, will he ever know the joy of a snowy winter morning? Humans … Continue reading →

Posted in adoption, Death, fellow fighters, running | 1 Comment

we are real: for radnor high school, class of 1990

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Emily

Earlier this morning, I laced up and hit the trail after dropping my son off at school. It was a gorgeous fall morning, my favorite for running. My sleep last night was fitful, as faces and voices from Saturday night’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Life After Cancer, running | Leave a comment

from revolution to evolution: belated thanks to the boys

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Emily

Four years ago, I wrote with some fairly measured seriousness about the transcendent experience of finally seeing U2, my favorite band of 30 years, up close. At that moment, I was still living in the relatively immediate shadow of my … Continue reading →

Posted in cycling, Death, Life After Cancer, music | Leave a comment

finish line

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Emily

With cancer, unlike a half marathon, there is no finish line.  There is freedom from active disease, but never from the threat that it may one day return.  So the tests and checkups stand as markers on a road that … Continue reading →

Posted in Life After Cancer, Philadelphia, rain, running | Leave a comment

the music will get you through

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Emily

There are those rare moments that shake us out from under the spell of our routine, the seeming mundanity of every day existence.  The sameness, the confusion, the seeming lack of clarity about what, exactly, we are doing, or what … Continue reading →

Posted in fellow fighters, Infertility, Life After Cancer, music, running | 1 Comment

THIS; NOW

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Emily

When I was diagnosed with cancer seven years ago, I inevitably became preoccupied with my own mortality.  The vibrant immediacy of the life I had been living before the moment of my diagnosis was eclipsed by the terrifying reality that … Continue reading →

Posted in Death, Family | Leave a comment

psychic whiplash (or, “what is life?”)

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Emily

A few weeks ago, I learned that one of my friends is pregnant with her second child.  This friend went through years of heartache before having her first child, and the road to her second pregnancy hasn’t been without its … Continue reading →

Posted in Infertility, Life After Cancer, Philadelphia, running | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

cancer ate my feminism (or did it?)

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Emily

Last month, I had the good fortune to finally meet a remarkable fellow cancer fighter (and writer) with whom I’ve had a years-long virtual relationship.   As has happened many times before, when these virtual connections become “real,” I was struck … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, fellow fighters, politics, Work | Tagged , | 1 Comment

hard work

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Emily

This long, punishing winter has driven many of those around me to something close to madness.  People are starved for warmth and light and fresh air and green things growing all around them.  This cold and snow and ice, this … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

cancer: then, now, always

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Emily

Last month, an acquaintance from high school emailed me to report that she’d just been diagnosed with cancer.  I was momentarily floored, but unfortunately, the reality of young adult cancer is so much a part of my life that the … Continue reading →

Posted in fellow fighters, Life After Cancer | Tagged | 2 Comments