Page 407 - She's One Crazy Lady!

Now then – am I a ‘Crazy Lady’? A thought put forward by Dr Lawrence in his Foreword. That is still for you to decide! Think back to when Marilyn and I were sitting at the railway station in Wellingborough, late one Friday afternoon, ready to be whisked off to France for the weekend – a weekend that was to change our lives for the next twenty nine years. Marilyn was somewhat nervous about going away with the ‘Deputy Head’. I told her I was ‘Glennis’ – just Glennis. That is me. I am just ‘Glennis’. I have been ‘me’ for sixty eight years. I am who I am and how I am. I won’t change now. I’m in no way perfect – who is?
How do I see me?
Let me think... I do like to see things through and can be quite forthright in getting and wanting things done – with high standards, always. I hate any form of injustice. I can be stubborn, impulsive, assertive, determined, optimistic and I have a creative mind. I like to be different. My Grandma would say – ‘be yourself but be different.’ I like to do things that make people feel happy; to give people opportunities to do things. I love to ‘organise’. I try to be fair in everything and strive to be kind with all people I meet. I hate to see unhappiness. I have empathy for anyone who has been on or is on a cancer journey... I’d like to think I have a good sense of humour too as I do like to have fun. All of these traits, and more, I hope, with the love and support I had from my family, my friends, my school colleagues and yes, my children – and, of course, the whole Crazy Hats Team, have made a difference...
...Like the story of a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing and had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day, looking along the beach, he saw a human figure who looked to be dancing. The wise man walked faster to catch this human up and as he got closer he saw that the human was a young man. The young man was not dancing but, was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean. The wise man asked the young man what he was doing. The young man paused, looked up and replied:
“Throwing starfish into the sea. The sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”
The wise man tried to explain to the young man that there were miles and miles of coastline with starfish all the way along it, so how could what he was doing make a difference? The young man listened politely then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea saying:
“It made a difference for that one.”
(From a card I picked up in an art gallery in St. Ives.)
With Crazy Hats we did what we felt we had to do knowing what we
did was needed for each and every person who benefitted.
The subject of cancer is a major health issue for everyone – patients, family, friends, and health professionals who are involved in detection, treatment and care. The experience of cancer though is far more than diagnosis and treatment as it affects every aspect of our wellbeing –
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I told her I was ‘Glennis’ – just Glennis. That is me. I am just ‘Glennis’. I have been ‘me’ for sixty eight years. I am who I am and how
I am. I won’t change now. I’m in no way perfect – who
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