IN REMEMBRANCE...

Our local writing community lost one of our own recently.  Margot Theis Raven had a gift of crafting stories that preserved the beauty of the past in a way that both educated and captivated readers.

Margot Theis Raven

1950 - 2014

Margot was an award-winning author, and also a talented painter, who told others that she didn’t write children’s books, but rather she wrote historical fiction in the form of a children’s picture book.  If you’ve ever read one of her books then you would agree.

My personal favorite, Circle Unbroken, paid homage to the prized art form of sweetgrass basketweaving here in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.  Raven’s words are lyrical, her stories are emotional, and her work is inspiring. 

Her beautiful life was cut short by the ugly and cruel reality of breast cancer.  It hurt to hear the news.  I knew about her battle, but I had hoped she would pull through and join the growing list of survivors.  I envisioned her becoming one of the many women I met several years ago, when writing Time is a River, at a Casting for Recovery retreat in the mountains of North Carolina.  Gathered at a riverbank just outside of Asheville, breast cancer survivors in all stages of treatment and recovery learned the therapeutic sport of fly fishing through this free retreat. In that cold, mountain water, they shared their stories, their worries, and their support as they re-connected with nature and healed from their battle scars.  I had hoped the same for my friend Margot.  

Margot’s death painfully reminds me though that the road is long in the fight to end breast cancer.  On her website, Margot has a quote posted by Patty S. Hill which states, “The world moves forward on the footsteps of little children.” 

How true that is.  Margot left this world far too soon, but she left us with treasures.  Every time someone turns a page in one of her books, a little bit of herself lives on--moves forward--through young readers and those young at heart.   

Thank you, Margot, for sharing your gifts with us.  

Life at the End of a Fishing Line

The original plan for Time is a River was to write a novel about women friends who share the love of fly-fishing. Then fate intervened in the form of an invitation from Brookside Guides in Asheville to volunteer my time helping at the North Carolina/South Carolina Casting for Recovery retreat. The program is designed to help breast cancer survivors find their soul-stirring connection to life once again.

So I journeyed to the mountains of our sister state, where I served as assistant, pack mule and anything else required of me for fourteen cancer survivors. Some of the women had only recently completed their treatments, while others had been cancer free for many years.

Standing in that river with these survivors, I watched them learn to catch then release their trout to swim away and live another day. From their expressions of surprise and delight when they caught their first fish on a fly rod I found the heart of my story— connecting to life at the other end of a fishing line.

"Stand a moment longer and listen to the music of the water. Breathe deep and soon you will catch its rhythm and your blood will pump its heady beat. As your body hums, your mind releases the nagging worries you carried with you to the river-- thoughts of business and family and work and future slowly drain from you to be picked up in the current and dragged away. You now feel lighter, freer. You see with fresh eyes. You hear the secrets of the river. You are the river. Now you are ready to connect with the fish." (pg. 146, Time is a River)

My main character Mia, which loosely translates to mean ‘me,’ would embody the hopes every person has of discovering personal strengths and finding the joy in living. Mia would be a breast cancer survivor, but needed to learn what it means to not merely survive, but to live again through the healing powers of nature.

My grandmother and mother both died of breast cancer. In their memory, I continue to support Casting for Recovery as a means to bring survivors to the river, where they can let go of their troubles, breathe in that heady freedom from cancer worries and cancer treatments, then boldy go out to find their bliss.

"This was her body. She knew she should let go of her old self-image and make peace with the way her body was now... Mia closed her eyes and said a small prayer for strength. She had to let this fear of cancer go down the drain with the dirty water. To live fully, she had to believe she would live." (pg. 49, Time is a River)

What can you do in honor of breast cancer survivors or in memory of those claimed by the cancer? You can support the national non-profit Casting for Recovery in your region. For more information, visit http://www.castingforrecovery.org/.