Imperfectly Content:
How Cancer Saved My Life
LOVING FIERCELY.
EMPOWERED.
AUTHENTIC.
From the Heart
Imperfectly Content: How Cancer Saved My Life is my very own passion project filled with vulnerable content. The name of this project "Imperfectly Content" came to me one day when I was trying to describe how I felt about my new-found life after breast cancer. I found a new happiness and love for life that I didn't know existed, but it also included the inevitable bad days with occasional flat tires, irrational body obsessions, exhausting people pleasing, annoying neighbors, and grumpy teenage daughters. The new life was hardly perfect, but it definitely came with a healthy dose of contentment.
Explore my site and all that I have to offer—perhaps my blog will spark excitement in your life, as well. So, sit back, relax and read on.
“And the Day Came When the Risk to Remain Tight In a Bud Was More Painful Than the Risk It Took to Blossom.”
– Anais Nin.
Blog Content:
About Me
I’m so glad you’ve arrived!
Imperfectly Content: How Cancer Saved My Life is where I share with you what interests me most, sparking your excitement so that you can nurture your own passions and projects. I hope you enjoy my site and all of the unique content I create. We all need something to motivate us.
I’m an original “cheese head” having been born and raised in Wisconsin! I’m grateful for my humble, mid-western up-bringing. My father is a Lutheran pastor, and moved my family to Florida when I was in high school. A complete culture shock, but one that turned out to be a dream come true! Who wouldn’t want to skip school and go to the beach?!
Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I had worked in higher education as an international admissions counselor/recruiter for twelve years. I traveled the world, and visited over 50 countries with my work. I was truly passionate about helping students and their families and interacting with different cultures. I felt like I had stumbled on my "dream job." However, the job was also grueling, demanding, physically exhausting and hardly came with a "dream salary." After I was diagnosed with cancer, my work stress became unbearable, and I started to look for other jobs within higher education. When I shared this with my husband, he started seriously discussing with me coming to work for him at his business. My husband is a geologist by education, and has owned his own environmental engineering business for the last 20+ years. After some careful consideration, and MANY conversations together, my husband, Bill, and I decided we didn’t have anything to lose, and I joined his team in February 2022 (exactly one year after I was diagnosed with cancer). I haven’t looked back, and working for our family business has allowed me so much more autonomy and time with my family, while also focusing on our financial freedom.
I met Bill over nine years ago through a recreational water polo team, when I was in my early 30s. We had both been married before, and what attracted me most to Bill was how he spoke about his two young daughters! It took Bill about a month to officially ask me out, but we’ve been together ever since, and we’ve been married now for over five years. I have two amazing stepdaughters: Sarah (17) and Gracie (14). We also have our incredible, loving golden doodle, Sadie, and two mischievous cats: Tango and Kiki.
Thoughts. Experiences. Inspiration.
Let’s Connect
I am a huge Glennon Doyle fan. I cannot pick just one of her quotes or one of her books as my favorite, but I’m happy to share some of my favorite Glennon quotes:
“You are not supposed to be happy all the time. Life hurts and it's hard. Not because you're doing it wrong, but because it hurts for everybody. Don't avoid the pain. You need it. It's meant for you. Be still with it, let it come, let it go, let it leave you with the fuel you'll burn to get your work done on this earth.”
“I'm not a mess but a deeply feeling person in a messy world. I explain that now, when someone asks me why I cry so often, I say, 'For the same reason I laugh so often--because I'm paying attention.' I tell them that we can choose to be perfect and admired or to be real and loved. We must decide.”
“In all my close friendships, words are the bricks I use to build bridges. To know someone I need to hear her, and to feel known, I need to be heard by her. The process of knowing and loving another person happens for me through conversation. I reveal something to help my friend understand me, she responds in a way that assures me she values my revelation, and then she adds something to help me understand her. This back-and-forth is repeated again and again as we go deeper into each other's hearts, minds, pasts, and dreams. Eventually, a friendship is built - a solid, sheltering structure that exists in the space between us - a space outside of ourselves that we can climb deep into. There is her, there is me, and then there is our friendship - this bridge we've built together.”
“I have met myself and I am going to care for her fiercely.”
