Bringing Sexy Back

Sometimes there are drawbacks to being one of the last American families without cable.

Like being clueless about the ending of The Sopranos.
And being confused by references to Pimp My Ride.
And missing the documentary Crazy, Sexy Cancer on The Learning Channel (TLC).

I could get 100% behind the "crazy" part of the title. (If it had been "kooky," I really would have embraced it.) But I was a little confused about how cancer could be "sexy."

Film maker Kris Carr explains it best in her Crazy Sexy Cancer blog (grammatical errors are Carr's, not mine):

"Cancer ISN'T sexy, the soulful women who have it ARE. We are warriors, angels, vibrant hot tomatoes and cancer can not take that away from us. Cancer cowgirls are empowered, whole, thrivers with or without the disease. I refuse to let cancer break my spirit, victimize me, or make me feel like a sick person - so I CHOOSE to believe that I am more alive, beautiful and yes, sexier (AKA empowered, passionate and intriguing) than ever before! Why not?

By that definition, I AM sexy, even with a Marine hairstyle, slack skin and a pipeline coming out of my chest.

Carr goes on to write, "I don't look at my journey as if it is a battle (partly because I hope I don't lose) so instead I call it my cancer adventure story."

I love that! When I first received my diagnosis, a friend said something similar to me: "Don't think of yourself as a sick person. Think of yourself as someone who has something interesting going on in her body."

And let's face it: it has been an adventure. A crazy, interesting and - yes, sexy - adventure.