Me, November 2009

I’m Pat Steer–a writer, dog trainer and a really good cook who has been living with Stage IV rectal cancer since 2004. I work every day to stay focused on life in the moment, life out loud…and take aim at finding the enjoyment in each opportunity I have to laugh, to learn, to think, to observe and to live with everything I’ve got.

The black-eyed susans in my avatar represent two things: every-day beauty in spite of adversity, and sheer persistence. At home I have a 4×12 foot border of black-eyed susans around my front patio. Those flowers are the offshoots of a single 4-inch pot I found wilting on the reduced-for-clearance rack at the garden center in 1998. Now even the daylilies have to argue with them for water, sun and space. The black-eyed susans never lose and never quit; they are a simple, beautiful symbol of what my life with cancer survivorship has become: life out loud, no matter what the circumstances or adversities.

I also blog about improvising with food at Kitchen Jam; drop by and share some of the things that pique my tastebuds! If you love dogs and enjoy training them, visit my Dog Trainer’s Log to follow my adventures training out loud with English Cockers Madison and Casey. If you run into me on forums around the ‘net, I’ll most likely be posting as Gaelen (or Gaelen2), the screen name I’ve used online since the mid-90s. On Twitter, you’ll find me at Gaelen2. To contact me directly, you can leave me a comment here, or email: gaelen2 AT yahoo DOT com.

When I started Life Out Loud in its original home at Blogger.com, I was asked this random question: When you hesitate before hitting snooze on your alarm clock, are you being lazy?

Five years later, this is still my answer: Nope…I am giving *me* the only five minutes in the day over which I have any direct control!