Following a cruise in July…… obviously pre-covid, I was introduced to the majestic mountains, bald eagles and roaming moose capturing the imagination. Now I have become a fan of Alaskan reality TV. Would a grown woman from North Carolina really consider purchasing a “home” with no running water and forty below temps in the winter.. and live there alone? The scenery is spectacular but remote reality really not that enticing. What I love is the announcer for the programing. Deep, foreboding, ramping up the drama. I want to call out, “Hey there’s a lower 48 here. You don’t have to live with the grizzlies and 140 mile per hour winds!” But people keep seeking ways to test their fortitude.

If you are looking for adventure, it can be found here daily. The reality in the clinic is the perfect setting for that kind of running dialogue: where is the deeply scary voice at the patient’s shoulder as they hand over their insurance card, step into the exam room, sit before the doctor. This is the biggest drama of their life, shouldn’t there be dark, menacing, musical notes to punctuate the experience? Instead they get a chipper, smiling staff in-congruent with the events unfolding.

If any environment deserved a play by play with all the fright embellished, a cancer clinic does. There’s a lot of deliberate effort to tamp that down and help the patient and family take one day, one procedure at a time. Keep the mayhem and madness at bay and allow for deliberate, calm strength to control the experience. In my head, I hear the the solemn threatening voice,” The grizzly devoured all the provisions for the winter and now there is no way out… dumdumdum” What I know is that in reality, there is no way out here… just through. Every person arrives with anticipation, some armed for the battle, others hoping to find strength. They are not expecting escape but they do have hope for rescue.

Real life is so much more dramatic. No one is looking for notoriety or exceptionalism. Everyone wants to go home and have their safe, quiet maybe boring life. My simple message is to remember to appreciate all the mundane aspects of your day (even an indoor shower). The wolves are not at the door. I assure you, peace is more precious than any adventure and the reality is that it is available to us everyday.