In The Pink

Okay, this'll have to be a quick one, because I'm sitting in the radiology department of Nairobi Hospital at the moment, about to be called in for my yearly mammogram.

Like I wrote last week, my Nairobi doctor wants to get the results before she'll start me on HRT. I purposely chose today to have it done, because it's the third anniversary of my sister Julie's passing. And though she died from colon cancer, you gotta keep track of "The Big C" whenever and WHERE-ever it might develop.

There are so many signs that my decision to take control of my physical and mental health by choosing this path is the right one. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and of course the pink ribbon is the international symbol. And I chose this image because it was taken with my trusty little pink point-and-shoot camera nearly a month after Julie passed, and I had somehow managed to pull myself together and return to my cozy little cottage in Gulu, Uganda, to get on with life by any means necessary.

It's the rainbow I'll always have, just like I'll always have Julie's spirit with me. I've made it the screensaver for my new Kenyan Alliance of Health and Science Reporters laptop, which is basically chained to my hip these days as I try and get things rolling. This rainbow reminds me that Julie would have done--DID do--whatever it took to get on with her life. She was the toughest person I've ever known. That's why I know I'm doing the right thing.

And that she's smiling down on me today for being the Grown-Assed-Woman she always knew I could be.