ISBC 37 - The Practice of Writing Fiction

Chapter 37 of Hope: A User's Manual - the reflection in which Scout shows up wearing shark-themed pajamas

A few weeks ago, our dear doggo Scout had to have surgery to remove what we found out was a small cancerous tumor.¹  A few weeks before that we saw a small lesion on her back left hip and when it didn’t go away after a few days, we took her to our vet.  A few tests later, it was decided she needed surgery.  After the surgery came the dreaded Cone of Shame and we also purchased this (and another) set of doggie PJs to try to prevent her from messing with the scar and stitches.  For anyone who had seen us out walking in the days after, it was obvious something was different.  Why would we be walking our dog in mid-July in long doggy pajamas?  (We didn’t cone her when we were outside - that’s just too much).   

We don’t always know what people are going through.  MaryAnn’s chapter reminded me of that truth and especially this quote:

In her research on courage and authenticity, Brené Brown found that the most wholehearted people believe that everyone is basically doing the best they can.²

It reminded me of people in my life who have faced serious illness.  Sometimes that illness can be obvious to others, but a lot of times you don’t know.  One friend, Julie, regularly shared during her fight against pancreatic cancer...be kind, you never know what kind of battle someone is fighting.  In her case, it was a brutally aggressive form of pancreatic cancer that took her life far too young.  Through most of her cancer fight, it wasn’t obvious to others what was happening.

But we don’t know.  So I loved the way that MaryAnn frames this issue - can we start with an assumption that the grouchy person we bump into at the grocery store was just wrapping up what had been a really awful day and just wanted to get home to decompress?  Can we offer that extra bit of kindness to someone in the knowledge that that kindness might help make a turn in their day?  Can we be sure to thank someone by name who helps us in a restaurant or a store?

I wonder what fictions people came up with about me and Scout as we walked around the lake on an early summer morning with her in these fetching-looking shark-themed doggie pajamas?  Did people just assume I had gone off into the deep end of doggie weirdness (which might be a bit true)?  Did they think that it was just weird?  Did someone make a crass comment to their fellow walker after we passed each other?  Or maybe someone walked by and wondered if there was something going on for Scout that required it and they offered a silent bit of grace or a quiet prayer for her and for us?  I hope for the latter and I long that I can offer that bit of hope to someone in the same way - a bit of grace, a quiet prayer.  Hope.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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1. Good news was that, even though it was cancerous, the tumor was fully contained and hadn’t spread to surrounding tissue and her x-ray came back clear. So no further treatment for now - just observing to be sure there’s no recurrence.

2. McKibben Dana, MaryAnn. Hope: A User's Manual (p. 158). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.