thank-you, willy wonka

yesterday turned out to be the best day i've had in quite a while. mother nature delivered a 60-degree day, complete with abundant sunshine and spring flowers. because of president's day (usually it means nothing to me) i had no radiation treatment. i took two walks, one being the longest i've done in months and felt great.

beautiful weather, exercise and no rads. what could be better?

amazingly, it got better still. i finished my taxes in record time. then, a box arrived from scharffen berger chocolate in san francisco. the gorgeous heart-shaped, red velvet box of truffles you see above was inside, along with 3 large bars of their premium dark chocolate. I'd won the chocolate lottery! it started last week. i entered a little contest on the blog of tim ferriss, author of the book, the 4 hour work week, that is very inspiring to me as i design a new lifestyle.

tim asked his readers to leave a comment with three reasons why they should get a box of chocolate goodness from his favorite chocolate makers, scharffen berger. we all know dark chocolate is good medicine for cancer, so i decided to leave my reasons. here is my entry:

Hi Tim,

I’m a fan of your book and blog. So inspired, in fact, I quit my day job in October and went full-time in my studio. I want that chocolate! Reasons why are these:

1)Two weeks after quitting my day job I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m doing battle (and winning!) with the best of Western and Eastern medicine. I need those anti-oxidents, man!

2)I’m a young single woman and I’ll be spending my Valentine’s Day morning getting radiation treatment and meeting with my oncologist about side effects.

3)If I’m not having sex this Valentine’s Day, at least I need to be having chocolate. (Like you, Tim, I eat a little dark choc every night as well, actually…so even if I don’t win, I’ll eat some chocolate)

By the way, congrats! 4HWW is totally NOW and sexy. Glad Cosmo is on board. i am sure that means so much. *grin*

If you want to verify my (sob)story, I’m writing a blog on it here:
http://www.myturnip.blogspot.com

Thanks,

Tay

low and behold, i was chosen as a runner-up in the contest. however, when i opened the box i received yesterday and it soon became clear that what arrived was a grand prize box, thanks to the generous soul of a sweet man named tom at scharffen berger. can you believe it? he upgraded my prize.

i am savoring my treats, delighted at my good chocolate fortune!

some other kind folks who read my entry on tims' blog also emailed me their encouragement and support. thank-you so much, you cannot know how much that means. the whole experience is validation of this practice: tell your story, put yourself out there.

i really didn't think i would win any chocolate. if anything, i thought my entry seemed a little pathetic and i was hesitant to play the "cancer card". but i am learning that if you tell your story with honesty and a sense of ownership, people see beyond the particular situation. they don't just see cancer patient, i think they then see you. or me, in the case of this blog.

thanks for seeing me, tim, tom and all of you out there reading. it really helps me feel more like a person and less like a patient.