Have you ever gotten in your car and turned on the radio and heard a song you’ve listened to a thousand times – but somehow that day it seems different? That happened to me yesterday on my way to work.  I heard Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down A Dream.”  I’ve heard it many times before, and even have it on a CD, but yesterday the words just spoke to me.  I guess it’s like the saying goes: The teacher will appear when the student is ready.  I finally heard the words, and it was a little gift on my way to work.

If you are not familiar with the song, the chorus is:

Yeah, runnin’ down a dream

That never would come to me

Workin’ on a mystery, goin’ wherever it leads

Runnin’ down a dream

When I heard those words, I thought, “Wow – that is exactly how I feel.”  Something has changed in me since I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  My world has changed.  I have never written anything before – never even thought about trying.  After my first chemo, sentences just started popping into my head.  I could not fall asleep because of the stories that started playing in my mind.  Finally, I thought, “Write some of this down.”  I did not think I would share it with anyone.  But then I did.  And I have been totally amazed at the response.

So this is what my life feels like now: that I am running down a dream.  I have no idea where the dream will lead . . . but I feel like I am on my path.

Another part of the song says:

I rolled on, the sky grew dark

I put the pedal down to make some time

There’s something good, waitin’ down this road

I’m picking up whatever is mine

So far this year, my sky has grown dark, but I just keep rolling down this road.  I do believe that there is something good waiting.  That is the faith that I have talked about. It takes faith to walk through the dark and believe that something good is waiting.  If I did not believe or have faith, I would never be able to keep walking, never be able to see the light shining at the end of this tunnel. I have been truly blessed, not in spite of having breast cancer but because of it. I have started down a new path. I have started running down my dream.