As stated, for over 30 years, I've stood at the front of English classrooms, not with a sword, but with a whiteboard marker. My battlefield. Teenage distraction. My armor. Grammar rules. My victories. Quiet ones. A raised hand. A wellargued essay. And a boy who finally understood metaphor. But four years ago, adversity rewrote my lesson plan. Despite decades of self-care, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, becoming the eighth woman in my immediate family to face breast or ovarian cancer. My own mother died ...