When I started this blog back in April 2012, my purpose was to share with readers how the Hooks were preparing for a life overseas, what we were doing to get our lives in order, and how incredibly AWESOME this whole experience felt.
A few short months int
o it, the blog morphed into a How to Pretend You Are Somewhere Other Than Where You Really Are. Lately, I’d been wondering whether to kill the blog altogether with a radiation zap instead of letting it stick around like a slow chemo drip. But then I had a revelation — a three pints of Shiner Bock revelation. I didn’t even know I had the capability … to drink that many pints in one sitting!
Where the Re-Exploring Began
Earlier this week, I hosted a series of career exploration workshops for a corporate client. Talking about exploration energizes me because exploration is about discovery. Exploration is about creating new possibilities. Exploration is about having choices.
This is where I am, or this is where we are, Hook and I: We’re creating new choices for ourselves.
Candy or no candy, we can still explore Australia. Just because we’re not physically down under doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to learn about the Aussies and Oz and to find out why Australians are fun, fun, fun. For me, learning is next to doing and doing is all that much closer to being.
And maybe, just maybe, sometime in the future, Hook will begin to contribute his own thoughts on this whole Hooks Down Under saga. Until then, let me share a sense of who Hook is by asking you to click on this link: Scroll to Page 2 or the 4th page in the link.
Take the Australian Poll
Below is my Australian Topics list, a list of subjects I want to write about, a list which is subject to change as my cycle changes and as the wine supply in the house goes down:
Oct 14th: Australians Are Fun for a Reason
Oct 28th: What is Halloween Like in Australia?
Nov 11th: Muriel’s Wedding & More: The 10 Most Known Australian Faces
Nov 25th: An Australian Thanksgiving
I wrote an entire year’s worth of topics and attached dates to them, but there’s no need for me to torture you with the entire list all at once. I wrote this list down because in my exploration workshop, I asked all of the attendees to write down their next steps and to commit a date to each. Then I had each participant shared what they wrote with the class – what next step were they committing to and by when – thus making their workshop mates an immediate accountability group.
It’s no secret that by writing something down, we not only increase the likelihood that we’ll actually do it, but we get clarity and confirmation of what we really want. And by sharing this clarity with others, we strive harder to meet our goals than we would have if we were the only ones who knew of them.
You are my accountability group. And to show you that I’m serious and not drinking while I’m writing, I’ve created a poll for you to use to vote.
Vote for the topic you like best or recommend your own topic. Why? Why not. Srsly. You get a chance to have some input which I may or may not take into consideration (remember: the cycle) but more importantly, I’ll let others know what voters said (or, I think the poll will automatically show you but I really don’t know — I’ve never done this before.) And to all those outside of the U.S. who are reading, don’t let us Americans be stingy with our suggested topics. Have your say!
Yes, more than just Americans are reading this. We’ve had over 1000 hits to this blog from 15 different countries including the U.S. Apparently the world loves the wounded. Who knew?
This poll is a blatant ploy to get you to inspire me to remain connected, to remain on track of Australia, and to keep exploring. It’s genius! If you were trying to get me to coach you, I’d say, “Absolutely! Let me send you my pricing schedule and you can tell me which option you’d like to start with!”
I need to keep Australia as tangible as possible and this is the only way I know how to do it. I want Hook to recover and get his health back so we can explore Australia together. As I wrote in a previous post, I have more time to research Australia before we ever get there but up until now, I haven’t researched anything. I stopped reading all of my Australia books. I stopped going to Aussie websites. We stopped renting movies about Australia. I don’t know that I’ve really believed it was still within our reach. Hook believes it, and now he’s the one who talks about Oz all the time. “When we’re in Australia …” he says, but I stopped saying that a long time ago.
God took my silver lining with him to Australia and now I’m going to recreate it.
The Hook Candy Update
All is well so far with Hook and his pancreas. Radiation and chemo treatments will temporarily end this week so the oncologist and the surgeon can determine by way of CAT scan(s) whether Hook’s pancreas can be removed and is ready for removal.
If the CAT scan next week shows a shrunken pancreas, then the doctors will probably recommend that Hook’s body take a drug rest for the remainder of October. No radiation zaps, no chemo drips, no chemo pills. All of this would be in preparation for surgery in November. If the scan reveals something other than what the surgeon would like to see, then, I don’t know. We would go back into treatment I suppose. We.
I remembered the other day, at the beginning of this medical journey, that our oncologist told Hook he could do his chemo treatments abroad. The doctor said, “It’s an option. But is that how you really want to remember Australia, strapped to a chair receiving chemo?” For all we know, the Aussies might do that for fun, those crazy, cultural convicts.
How the Exploration Panned Out For My Clients
During one of the workshops, an attendee was so overcome with emotion, she left the room to compose herself. This is not unusual, and in fact is quite common — the welling up of tears when we start talking about change, real change, real differences we want to make in our lives. When we talk about dreams and desires that motivate us or circumstances that have altered our hopes, it’s a wonder we don’t all burst into tears every day.
What could have been is gone but what could be is still up to me, to you, to all of us.
Come explore Australia with the Hooks Down Under. Be my accountability group.
Writings By Rosemary 