Slice of Life: The Ripple Effect

Last week, a small pebble was dropped into the lives of a couple dozen ladies in Ohio. They were chosen as participants or alternates for a Casting for Recovery retreat. As Participant Coordinator, I had the delight of making calls to confirm they’d gotten their emails. The joy was unmistakable.

I got my own call twenty years ago, when my breast cancer diagnosis was seven years behind me and the Ohio CfR program was just in its second year. I was already a fly fisher, so I knew the healing power of standing in a river completely in the moment, concentrating on current, rod, line, possible fish, breezes, and patches of sunlight on the water. I had fished throughout my year of treatment and I knew palpably, viscerally, that casting a fly rod could be a vital part of recovery.

The next year after my retreat, I joined the CfR Ohio volunteer staff, teaching basic fly fishing and knot tying, and for the past seven years I’ve been the Ohio program’s co-coordinator.

Fly fishing, breast cancer, Casting for Recovery, fourteen participants per year for almost twenty years: innumerable ripples in my life and the lives of others.

We rarely know the difference we’ve made in the lives that our life bumps up against, or in the world. It’s enough to know that simply by being here and doing the work we love and that matters, our ripples, too, go out carrying love. And they matter.

“Hope” is the thing with feathers
BY EMILY DICKINSON

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.

*   *   *   *   

And “Hope” is the lady with a flyrod
BY MARY LEE HAHN, 2011

And “Hope” is the lady with a flyrod –
Learning something new –
Just for the weekend she can drop her facade –
She can forget all that she’s been through –

Or she can remember – without fear –
Supported by new friends –
She’ll find a way to steer –
Through all life’s twists and bends –

I’ve seen Hope by the pond –
Heard Hope in the happy shouts –
I’ve remembered those who’ve gone to the Beyond –
All this is what Hope’s about.

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Casting for Recovery is a national nonprofit whose mission is “…to enhance the lives of survivors and thrivers of breast cancer through wellness retreats that connect women to each other and nature using the therapeutic sport of fly fishing, and providing oncology medical and psychosocial support — all at no cost to the participants!” If you or a lady you know is going through or has gone through a breast cancer journey (any age, any stage), I encourage you/them to apply for the chance to attend a CfR retreat in your state. Don’t be put off by the fly fishing. It’s a weekend of being pampered, healing in nature, connecting with others, and learning something new. Oh, and if you’re into shopping for good, Casting for Recovery Ohio’s online auction Reel in Hope opened today!