Cancer in the time of COVID

A hermit crab, when confronted with potential danger, seeks safety inside its outer shell. As the crab grows, it needs to move into larger empty shells to survive, exposing it to danger with each change.

“Maybe hermit crabs are my spirit animals,” I said to my husband, Julien, who humored me with a half-smile and kiss. We were sitting on the roof of our new home on Hong Kong’s Lamma Island, watching the sunset, reminiscing about Okinawa.

We had just moved from Japan and were slowly settling into our salvaged shell in this strange time in history. For most of our lives, we’ve searched for it.

That sense of adventure led us to each other in Sicily four years ago, to marry in Sweden, almost move to Ireland, and at the last minute, to settle instead in Tokyo — a city where we knew no one, nor the language.

Such events present themselves like surprise gifts, to be unwrapped and embraced. Then there are those that blindside us, that we fight and accept at the same time — like breast cancer.