When the world stops a little..

The message from a dear sweet friend, the kind of news you don't see coming.

Especially when she is just 37.

Especially when she is healthier than most of my friends put together.

Breast cancer.

The sting of those words makes me feel giddy and much of what she said next over the following 20 minutes is a blur.

I realise barely anything is going in, so I grab a pen and start to write...

...doctors meeting...next Thursday...treatment options....

a whole 8 days to ponder this vile diseases implications with no more knowledge. 8 days of anxiety and sleeplessness. 8 excruciating days to get through.

She is calm, she is factual, she sounds like she is talking about a verruca not cancer. We end the conversation by laughing at something strange - like we always seem to. We find humour in things that are often not funny, its how our friendship works, its who we are and despite the earthquake of a diagnosis which has rocked the foundations of the world right now - we laugh.

So the countdown begins. The countdown that will lead to answers - is it anywhere else? how aggressive? treatment options?

Until then we wait and we pray.

We attempt to see our sleeplessness as a call to pray. We thank God for all the blessing he has provided for us and look to Him, for the comfort we all are craving.

We seek the 'Peace that surpasses understanding...'

And we wait.