Looking Back to Move Forward

Dorothy: [00:00:00] Let’s Talk About Your Breast, a different kind of podcast presented to you by The Rose, a breast center of excellence, and a Texas treasure. You’re gonna hear frank discussions about tough topics, and you’re gonna learn why knowing about your breast could save your life.

We are leaving an entire year of transformation, and I really think it’s important to recognize the changes every one of us have experienced during 2025. We leave this final month of a wild and unusual year. A year unlike any other we’ve ever seen or lived through before. As odd as it sounds, December can be a month of profound reflection and remembering. A time when we can [00:01:00] decide to step outside the holiday mindset and go within. And many times we’ll discover the gifts of ourselves, especially that final week of the year, that time that is between, that’s a time to take for yourself.

Hopefully this month will leave us wiser as we release the events of 2025, which to me and many others, has been the strangest year in decades. So what does releasing mean? We’re releasing what held as captive, releasing what no longer serves us. Letting go is one of the most difficult things any of us can do.

We humans like the familiar, the routine, we clinging to what is known. Sometimes it’s hard to step forward, sometimes it’s hard to trust. Yet that is what we are being asked to do as this new year starts. Trust, step forward, let go. [00:02:00] On a personal note, that’s exactly what I’m having to do. With my pending retirement, I realize I’m saying goodbye to something that has been a part of my life for 40 years.

I know in my heart of hearts, I know it will not be easy, and I’m sure I’ll have many days of looking back, but isn’t that how we move forward? Looking back to move forward, what does that mean exactly? Do we take the best from the past and use it to forge a new life? A different life. Or is the past what makes up our foundation, the essence of who we are?

As I look back, what do I see? I see tremendous courage. It takes a lot to face a life-threatening disease like breast cancer. I see the realities of [00:03:00] families struggling with loss. And the emptiness of what was. I see people. Many times during this past year. I’ve had to dig deep to find the motivation or the strength needed, but somehow miracles happen. Miracles have always been a part of The Rose. Big ones, little ones all are important.

Recently, we had a miracle that would only be important to me, but I’m going to share it. This has been a hard year for The Rose. It’s been a difficult year. We’ve had a lot of changes. We’ve had to implement a new system we’ve had to deal with decreases in reimbursement.

We’ve just faced one huge problem after another besides finding the funds to take care of a huge increase in the number of women who are asking for help. So this year we [00:04:00] are watching every penny. We’re watching all our expenses, and I had made this huge decision, decision that for our holiday, we were not going to purchase ornaments from The Rose.

It’s a tradition we’ve always had. They’re not expensive ornaments, but it was always a little something we gave our employees. So I made this announcement to leadership and to some of the other employees. All set to move forward when one morning I was feeling really down and I said, God, show me a miracle today, and then I’ll know everything’s gonna be all right.

And so I’m going into work. I hadn’t thought about it again, going into work, I have the keys in my hand to unlock my office door, and an employee comes around the corner. And stuff, some money in my purse. And I said, what? And [00:05:00] she said, this is for the ornaments for the employees. And I said, but we’re not doing that this year. And she said, well, I think there’s enough there. It’s a couple hundred dollars. I went, oh my gosh. And so I knew right then and there, I’d already seen a miracle. And the day was so much better.

There’s another miracle that I’ve always loved thought about often, but years ago we used to have little vans that we carried our mammography machines in, and these, these vans were made in Arizona, and so one was on its way here. The driver’s driving it. He’s going through all the different cities. He’s in El Paso.

He stopped to get gas and as he was here in this gas station, he said this old [00:06:00] truck came up the beside him. And it was filled with, you know, lawnmower equipment and junk and all kind of stuff, and the man was trying to get his attention. The man had very limited English, and George said, he had very limited Spanish.

So they were trying to to communicate there. And the man held out a dollar bill and said, “for The Rose. For The Rose. They took care of my mother.” George said all of a sudden that trip was not just about delivering a van to a place. He put that dollar on his dashboard and thought about that story all the way to Houston. Here’s a dollar. They took care of my mom.

Maybe one of my favorite miracle stories has to do with a young man who was 16 years old, brought his pink goat, [00:07:00] a goat that he had painted pink to the FFA Livestock show and rodeo in Pasadena. That was all he could afford that year, but he wanted to raise money for The Rose because we had taken care of his stepmother.

And unfortunately that year she had died. Before the auction ended, that young man had raised $115,000 for The Rose. This was his college money. Think about it, $115,000. All because he wanted to pay back an organization that helped his stepmom. Now from there we, we started the Pink Goat Society, which nobody could ever understand, but it was a success for two or three years, and we finally got to see Palmer McGinnis go off to college. What a fine young man. What a miracle.

These are [00:08:00] the kind of stories that kept me going through these whole 40 years. They’re taking care of people, of hearing hard, hard stories, but at the end, it’s our patients who are the miracles. You know, I think about Courtney with coming to us when she was pregnant, having to have chemotherapy, and we were there just to be with her to celebrate that son of hers that was born with no problems. And she was recovering. Now she’s working and she’s been such a great advocate for The Rose. I think about Dee, who chased the coach to find a place that would help her when she knew she had a problem with her breast. And of course, Montsy, our youngest woman ever to be diagnosed at 18. Hearing her story, learning how she found out about us.

All of those. Are the true miracles of The Rose. All of those you can hear on this podcast [00:09:00] and all of those are real people who at one time in their life needed help and because of all of our supporters, we were able to be there for them.

One of the other endings for 2025 is season number three of Let’s Talk About Your Breast. We ended with over a hundred thousand downloads. And this was a very special year because so many of our episodes were truly heart wrenching. So many were filled with practical information, but every episode offered hope. Every episode talked about courage. Every episode brought something new to this program. It is been fascinating to hear people talk about their experiences and what helped them get through difficult [00:10:00] times.

Now I get a lot of teasing about the things that I believe and I love learning just about anything that has to do with the metaphysical world from symbols, to astrology, to the meaning of dreams, to understanding ancient wisdoms. I enjoy all those things that are beyond the physical, beyond that which we can touch or taste beyond explanation, beyond the logical, to me, prayer falls into this group, and of course, miracles, just like the ones I’ve been talking about, are also a part of this group.

The kind that we see every day here at The Rose. You know what’s interesting is I don’t need science to prove to me that prayer works, but it’s very interesting that brain imaging studies [00:11:00] show that prayer can physically alter the brain by strengthening the pathways, and it helps with focus, emotional regulation, and compassion.

So here’s another part of the metaphysical world that I love, and its numerology 2025 is a nine year, which is the year of endings, and 2026 is a one year, which is the year of beginnings. So my question to you is, what new beginning will be in your future? What do you hope to manifest in this year ahead to see happen, to explore? Do you, do you yearn for a sense of peace? Have you found yourself wanting to disconnect from all of the noise in the world? Have you found yourself wanting to find a place of quiet? [00:12:00] I’ve seen this kind of restlessness in people all this last year, and it’s as though we are being called to do something different in this year ahead.

I really believe we are, and to me, one of the best therapies for our battered souls is being outside in nature. Even five minutes can make all the difference to me, just five minutes of being outside seeing this beautiful world we live in, getting away from the noise.

Another thing that people tease me about is my 104 goals that I write every year. And I truly believe that writing down the goals for the coming year are, that’s an important process. I look forward to doing this again this year, even though I know my goals will be so different than any I’ve ever created in the past. So here’s some tips about writing goals. Keep [00:13:00] them in the present. Don’t say I will, or someday this will happen. Say I have, I am. I enjoy. Don’t be afraid of huge goals. They may take years to happen, but put ’em down. And don’t forget the smaller goals, the ones I call maintenance goals, those are the ones that just help to remind you what you need to do every week, every month, four times a year.

All these goals matter, and every time you write down a goal, you send a message to your inner being. You’re saying, here is something I hope happens. Here is something I want to happen. Here’s something that will happen.

This year. My focus is gonna be on intentions, how I want to feel, what I want to [00:14:00] explore, who I want to be from there. Who knows? It’s almost like anything goes. Do your goals, have fun with it, and join me in blessing 2025 with all it’s good and bad and welcoming in 2026, it’s gonna be a year that has all the wonder and magic of a new beginning.

Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Speke Podcasting and brought to you by The Rose. Visit therose.org to learn more about our organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends, and join the conversation on social media using #LetsTalkAboutYourBreasts. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference. To a person in need, and remember, self care is not selfish. It’s [00:15:00] essential.