The dreaded C word

Cancer. 
It's the word you dread hearing from your doctor.
It lies in silent wait , like a coiled snake, fangs at the ready.
 And deep down inside, you know that if it doesn't bite you, it will sink its fangs into someone you love or care about.
 And that's what has  happened to one of my friends. 
The doctors hope it just a shallow bite.  
Very early stages that have hopefully been cut out and will never return... but you can't be sure. 
And that's the thing, suddenly you can't be sure of anything anymore. 
My friend is being amazing.
 Calm, dignified and so brave it makes my heart ache. 
She will not let this beat her.  
And we, who care about her so much, flock to her, seeking courage from her determination. 
" It's strange," she says, " how you can get used to waiting." 
Waiting for appointments, waiting for scans, waiting for results, waiting. 
And everything that used to seem important, isn't anymore.  
All those things that needed such immediate attention, no longer need it so immediately.  Those things on your mental " to do,' from the moment you wake up, never get crossed off. 
Because for now, at least, life is about waiting.
And the strange thing about waiting to find out if your friend's life is to become limited, is that each day you wait seems limitless. 
And all you want to do is fill it with shared moments.  
And strangely, we are all suddenly able to step out of our manic lives and make time.
 We sit in my friend's living room, groups of us, hands clasped around cups of steaming tea or coffee and we chat.
 Chat about the shortfalls of men,  about the constant exhaustion of motherhood, about the never-endingness of housework.
We laugh at ourselves, complain about our politicians, gossip about our friends and we all of us remember, that this is what life is about.
My friend is neither melodramatic nor resigned. 
 Like everything that has happened in her life so far, she will tackle it calmly and head-on and she will not let it beat her.
So the strange truth about my friend being told she has cancer, is that the diagnosis has somehow brought us all back to life. 
It has reminded us that nothing is more important than love and friendship, that time is something precious that should not be wasted on things we don't want to do, when there are so many things that we haven't yet done.
Not all C words are bad.
When my thoughts wander to my friend today ( as I know they will ) it is not cancer that I will think of but cake, conversation, coffee and most of all courage.