WISDOM CHECK

Life, the universe, and everything nerdy

Author: Andie

  • For Mom

    For Mom

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    Andie
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    I wrote this eulogy for my wonderful Mom, Lorraine, who passed away from stage 4 breast cancer. I’d been struggling to come up with what to say for today’s celebration for my Mom. Grief avoidance? Probably. How do you take all those memories of one of your favourite people and condense it down into a…

  • Fiery Poops and Brain Fuzz

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    Andie
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    It still almost doesn’t feel real. Here I am, a week and a half after my first chemo treatment and it’s still hard to believe that I have to deal with this shit again.  Last week was probably a lot harder than it needed to be, given that it was Christmas. I really wanted to…

  • This is my “This is Bullshit” face

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    Andie
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    This is my “this is bullshit” face. I never thought I’d be here the first time. I hoped I wouldn’t be here a second time. But here I am. Last week we learned that my breast cancer has returned and has metastasized into my lung, liver, and bones. In March I had reached my 5…

  • Legends & Lattes

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    Andie
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    “I’m… not really good at speeches. So I won’t try to make a good one. But I wanted to tahnk you, all of you.” Her eyes suddenly stung. “This… all this… This was a gift you gave to me. And I…” She grimaced at Cal, and then at Tandri. “I didn’t deserve it. The things…

  • Fingers to Keyboard

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    Andie
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    Last night, for the first time in a very long time (six months? A year?) I actually made time to write again. I decided at 10pm that I would spend an hour writing. I haven’t been doing things to fill my bucket lately (baby, business, etc), and especially 2022 was so stressful, so my goal…

  • The Dead Romantics

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    “I believe people. Even if it’s weird, even if it doesn’t make sense, I want to believe them. I want to see the good in them. I give my heart to everyone I meet and I put it in everything I do. And sometimes it hurts–often it hurts, actually…” And I glanced back to Ben,…

  • Participant of Hope

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    This past weekend, I was honoured to be the Participant of Hope at the Fraser Valley Relay for Life for the Canadian Cancer Society. I got to share my story, so here it is! This is a story about Dungeons & Dragons. And about Fundraising. Little of both. The first time I fundraised for the…

  • They Promised Me the Gun Wasn’t Loaded

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    Andie
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    “Those are the only two possibilities?”“Those are the only two probabilities,” Calon says, “I would never pretend to know what’s possible. [They Promised Me the Gun Wasn’t Loaded by James Alan Gardner]

  • Perchance to Dream

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    Andie
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    “The action doesn’t have to be explosive to be effective.” [Star Trek: The Next Generation #19: Perchance to Dream by Howard Weinstein]

  • Expectations

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    Andie
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    cw: body image, cancer, infertility “I didn’t know you were expecting!” Well-meaning words, the speaker wanting to share in your happiness. They come from a place of joy, not malicious intent. And yet, they cut deep. Five years ago, I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. I had a single mastectomy then to remove…