The drizzle let up today and a few of Leah's cousins and I went to the beautiful stone bench located on the forest trail near her house, on her 38th birthday...
However, you don't need to venture into the woods to see a lovely memorial for Leah, many homes in her neighborhood still feature her cancer warrior magnets and were recently refreshed with new ones! Celine, Leah's amazing neighbor and friend, who we also have to thank for the bench, found a left over box of magnets and organized Elly, Drew, and some of their neighborhood friends to replace the weathered ones for shiny new! On mailboxes and even a garage door or two, these continue to pepper the neighborhood as a reminder of Leah's strong warrior spirit. Leah's inspiration for the design and her inspiration to all of us, is best explained by her post from MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2014, titled Warriors...
I'm reading a new book and I'd like to share some excerpts from it over the next few postings. The book is called, Comfortable with uncertainty. The book talks about what a warrior is and I liked this part:
I have to agree that the not knowing is very scary and makes me afraid. And I have to say the adventure I have is not one I would have chosen but it is what I was given. I try every day to learn to accept it and accept that I cannot change it. I can only change how I chose to handle what I was given. A lot of people have used the word Grace when describing how I handle my cancer, I kind of like that. I certainly try to have grace and acceptance and I think that's what warriors need. -Leah Ploutz
Nice post Ben. I often think how Leah handled her journey through this horrible disease with such courage, grace, and acceptance. She was a true warrior. She was my dear daughter, I miss her so very much, everyday.
ReplyDeleteIt is the warrior, the bodhisattva, who lives open-heartedly and fully in life's moments. It was dear , Leah, unafraid to believe and have hope and willing to surrender to what is. The love of her essence still is with us
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ben, for sharing this. I’m so glad you were able to join me and the kids on our magnet walk ... it meant a lot to have you and Cathy there. If I may, here is the story of the magnets.
ReplyDeleteThe summer of 2014, Leah decided to try a strict diet as an alternative to chemo. Until then, the neighborhood had been providing meals to the family, but Leah felt it was too much to ask us to stick to her plan so told me we could take a break from that. I asked her “what else can we do?” and she replied “just think of me”.
Well - that was easy, but, unlike a meal showing up at the door, how would she know we were thinking of her? We needed something tangible ... a sign that we were still supporting her. Hence, the magnets. We coordinated to put them up the same night so that she could see them all at once.
That morning, I sat at home waiting for her to text me that she had seen them. What I didn’t expect was for her to ask me to go for a walk. The plan hadn't included me being with her when she saw them!
Nervously, I waited for her to come outside. She didn’t notice the one on her mailbox, but looking up the street, I could see the blue dots everywhere and knew she would eventually notice. Nope. Mailbox after mailbox, she walked right past them! It wasn’t until we returned to the neighborhood, the house right before the end of our walk, that she stopped, confused to see her warrior design on her neighbor’s mailbox. She looked down the street, then turned and looked up the street, and then asked - what’s going on? I simple said “we are thinking of you”.
Over the past 4 years, I watched the magnets deteriorate and felt Leah’s emotion of happy-sad ... amazed, but not surprised, that these tattered blue dots were still lining both sides of our street. The impact that she had on our neighborhood, on me, is immeasurable, and seeing the shiny new ones up has brought joy to my heart.
Dear sweet, courageous Leah ... we are thinking of you.
Leah's grace and mental attitude through everything still astounds me. She was a warrior and an incredible role model for me before and during her cancer battle. And she still is. I often think of her and what advice she would give or what she'd be doing. Her memory continues to help me be a better person.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting Ben. I loved reading this.
Celine - what a wonderful, thoughtful tribute and refresher on those magnets!
Miss you, Leah. So often I think of you, the kids. Stay sweet, stay beautiful.
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