Road trip! Three Mountain States in nineteen days. I’ve been to a gorgeous high-altitude ranch above Aspen, Colorado; a Utah ski resort busy with summertime activity; and as I write this, I’m holed away in a cozy, remote cabin in Idaho.
Photo: Pixabay
It seems I’m not afraid of road trips alone. Or staying in remote places alone. Yet, for all my bravado, there is something I’m a little afraid of.
A blog reader recently sent email about his wife who died too quickly after a cancer diagnosis. “I was unprepared and now alone. My awesome wife and friend … was now missing from my life,” he wrote.
Photo: Gary Johnson
At a one-day writers’ conference last spring, I had a 15-minute meeting with a literary agent. She asked me to tell her about my book proposal, and then provided excellent feedback from someone inside the publishing industry.
“I like a phrase you used: ‘How to live well through adversity.’ What do you mean by living well?” she asked.
Photo: Unsplash
A friend of mine started dating a man six months after he was diagnosed with cancer. At the start of their relationship, he was open about his health issues. And then cancer showed up stronger, and he walled himself off.
Photo credit: Unsplash
“He won’t let me give him any hands-on care,” my friend said. “And he doesn’t want me to be there emotionally for him.”
The couple split a few months later because the guy wasn’t willing to let my friend into his pain. Which means he turned away an amazing gift of love and support.
I met him this past week at the coffee machine in my son and daughter-in-law’s Tucson apartment complex. We exchanged pleasantries and then I asked – shamelessly – how long he’d been in a wheelchair.
Photo: Marlys
One of the lessons cancer taught us was to pay closer attention. To life. To time ticking away. To simple pleasures, such as, sound of water rushing over large boulders; smell of sunbaked pine needles; strain of muscles and sense of accomplishment; another hike together, even as cancer was stealing a little more of my husband’s life each day.
Sept 2013 in Wyoming’s Tetons – nine years into a terminal cancer diagnosis
My friend (and jewelry designer) Jim Dailing shot this updated Renew | Repurpose photo with a beautiful renovated barn hiding behind the pink blossoms. (Thank you, Jim … I love it!)
Photo credit: Jim Dailing
Long-time readers know I’ve blogged about brave-making campaigns and about keeping Friday date night — a weekly tradition established before my husband, Gary, died of cancer.
But this is my first blog about a brave-making Friday date.
Cancer Adventures has expanded beyond cancer—new name: Renew | Repurpose—with a mission of helping people discover fresh purpose in seasons of loss.
The concept of repurposing catches my imagination. It’s the idea of adapting something for a purpose other than its original intent — a purpose that can be just as valuable, and effective, and gorgeous.
Like this barn. Once a habitat for animals and hay, and maybe even varmints. And now a beautiful house.
Not my house
The New Jersey crew is on an epic cross-country road trip—six grandkids and two parents in an eight-passenger van—visiting family in Iowa, Utah, California, Oregon, Idaho.
And I’ve been re-experiencing the wonders of the Wild Wild West through their eyes.
Photo: Summer Conn
Copyright © 2026 Marlys Johnson
