Women Weaving Stories of Women's Lives--this is the theme for National Women's History Month. Today, meet two women--Polly and Chris--two of Emmie Steele's closest friends from Next Time I'm Gonna Dance.
Hear that, Chris? We're Emmie's "closest" friends. Whatever happened to "best" friends? BFFs?
Polly, don't start. You can't have more than one "best" of anything. Being the best means you're--well--the best--alone.
Then I'm Emmie's best friend and the rest of you are close friends? Ha, ha. Gotcha, Sister.
Fine, Polly. You got me. Feel better? You know, there is wisdom in choosing your battles. If you get a choice. Emmie didn't get a choice. We had the choice of whether to stand beside her or protect ourselves and keep a distance. Breast cancer in any woman is so scary.
It is. But, Sister Chris, you have an advantage over the rest of us. A hotline, if you will.
Lay off with the Sister stuff. Yes, I'm a Catholic Nun, but I'm no different than you or Emmie or any other woman, Polly, when it comes to something like breast cancer. I was terrified for Emmie. And getting my head shaved almost cost me my job. The Monsignor did not understand why his Pastoral Associate was sporting a bald head. He didn't like the colorful scarves much, either.
Yes, Sis---Chris. You know the easy part was holding Emmie's head while she puked. I never thought I'd say that out loud. Watching what Emmie went through with so much courage made me consider the times I've taken the easy way out. That was one of the reasons why it was easy to quit my job and pursue what I really wanted. Best decision I ever made.
Oh, Polly. We pick at each other and tease. But at the end of the day, we have one another covered don't we?
You bet your rosary beads we do.
You can get to know Polly and Chris and more of their stories in Next Time I'm Gonna Dance, available in ebook at Amazon.com and in trade paperback at Champagne Books.
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