19 years clean

Tonight I was in between classes at the gym, and woman who was in my 1st class came up to me and introduced herself as Kim. She said she wanted me to know she had been watching me the past few weeks and wanted to say something to me but was not sure what. She said "my heart goes out to you every time I see you, I am a breast cancer survivor too, and I had the same hairdo as you have" and we both laughed. I asked her how many years it has been ..... her response was "19 years" she had stage 1 ductile carcinoma and they caught it early. I love to hear those stories, I realize that my VILLAIN was far more advanced and aggressive but it gives me hope that I will be around for a long time.
I am not quite where I was endurance wise a year ago but I can actually feel my muscles getting stronger, exercise is incredibly therapeutic for me. There have been a few times during working out that I have broke down and cried, how can I ever explain to anyone how it feels to be alive and be able to do what I love? Those tears are tears of joy that only I can understand.