Being Authentic

<p>Our existence is fragile. I learned that in many intricate ways so I do not take today for granted. I do not know what tomorrow will bring. I do not even know if tomorrow will come.</p><p>On the eve of Thanksgiving 2016 I received the diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer. Next to dying I fear the spread of cancer to my brain and losing my ability to think speak or write. This loss would be devastating to me.</p><p>The fragility of our life made me want to be authentic. Therefore I am writing this memoir to be authentic-we become our true selves when we author who we are.</p><p>I am afraid of being forgotten. Death does frighten me. But more than dying I am scared of having no one remember me or even worse of being recognized differently from who I was. At the same time I have never thought that I was entitled to ask others not to forget me. But not to be forgotten is precisely what I yearn for.</p><p>While I am writing for the other I am simultaneously writing for myself. I am one of the readers and will test the subject as it gets written. My criteria are stricter. I want to say This is my narrative.</p>