“If You Are Waiting For a Sign…”

Maybe you have had a nagging feeling that you need to go to the doctor and get something tested, or you keep saying you can’t afford to go on that dream trip, or you hate your job but are afraid to take the risk to go do what you really want to do. We all have those feelings.  What I have learned from my experience is…Life. Is. Too. Short.

My mom used to tell me that her dream was to go to Venice and see the canals.  For years, she would talk about this, and when I would encourage her to go, she would say she couldn’t because of work, because it was too expensive, too impractical. Well, I thought differently, so I booked and planned a two week trip to England, Ireland and Italy with my parents.  We had so many adventures that we talked about and laughed about for years after the trip.  “We’re on the train to Florence – no, we’re on the train to Milan, aaack!! Run!!!” Seeing the history, the beauty, the architecture, meeting new friends, eating ourselves silly, all of it was magical and wonderful, even the hard parts – “Tell them we’re lost! I don’t speak Italian! But you are Italian! Doesn’t mean I speak it!!” – it was all great.

She got to see that canal, and this is the picture of her the moment she saw it.  I have to tell you that for me, the whole trip was worth that “Dream Come True” smile on her face.  Two months later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I will never regret having taken that trip and neither did my mom and stepdad.

For myself, those moments when I finally did what I should have done long ago made all the difference.  After dragging my feet for years, I finally got tested for the breast cancer gene.  When I found out I had it, I  had a preventative double mastectomy. Guess what? Already had cancer.  Had I not had that test which led me to that surgery, who knows where I would be now.  I was laid off from a job I was miserable in, but it led to meeting my husband, which is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.  I started this website, because it was my mom’s dream that she didn’t get to finish, and the comments and feedback we have received are better than any bonus I could ever get from a corporate job.  Knowing that we might be helping someone makes me excited to get up every day and get to work.

Soon, my husband and I will be off on another dream trip to a place my mom and I planned to go together when we got done with our cancer treatment.  Those long days that she and I sat in those chemo chairs were spent dreaming and planning this vacation.  It gave us something to look forward to, and took our mind off the long road ahead of us.  When I get there, I will have my “Dream Come True” moment, for myself, and for my mom.  I hope she will be there with me in spirit.  I will be thinking of her every moment. My stepdad told me not to waste any time, to travel, see the world, and do all the things I have dreamed of because my mom ran out of time.  So we’ll go, and take her with us in our hearts.

If you are waiting for a sign to do something that you know you need to do, here it is.  Just do it.  In the trying, you’ll have no regrets.

-AK