All Here Now
A blog about a life… my life, that may be a lot like yours.
I sometimes forget
that I was created for Joy.
My mind is too busy.
My Heart is too heavy
for me to remember
that I have been
called to dance
the Sacred dance of life.
I was created to smile
To Love
To be lifted up
And to lift others up.
O’ Sacred One
Untangle my feet
from all that ensnares.
Free my soul.
That we might
Dance
and that our dancing
might be contagious.
Hafez, 14th Century poet
Meet Joan Durbin
“I am in love with life, and life is in love with me.”
My name is Joan Durbin. I am a long-time nurse gone writer. Yet being a nurse will
always be part of my signature, hence the symbol c with a line above it.
It is shorthand for the word ‘with’ in the medical field.
I love to write, so here I am with my own blog, going after my dreams. I want to
challenge myself with my own thinking, and perhaps as you follow me your
thinking will be challenged, too.
I am 67 years young and have had quite a bit of life experience. I am a survivor of
tongue cancer, and understand that life can be both incredibly beautiful
and incredibly challenging. I want to write about the people I meet,
to really see you and hear you, wherever I go.
I want to celebrate life, and see the wonder in not only the big things, but in the simple
things, too. To write about Mother Nature, the birds, and Grandmother Tree.
I want to share my thoughts on Faith, Hope, and Love. To write about some of the hard
times, and the goodness all around me. After all, it really is all here now!
So I will write, and I hope you join me in my posts. Together we will think, and laugh,
and cry. Let’s hold each other’s hands as we walk this journey. Let’s lift
each other up.
c Love, Joan
Introducing My Book!
So. It's time. My book, the journal I kept while climbing a mountain with an illness called cancer, is launching today. Can You Understand Me? A Hospice Nurse's Own Journey with Tongue Cancer, is ready to fly. And I honestly feel like this book has become its own...
Winter Olympics Athletes!
I rarely watch TV. You know I love to watch my Green Bay Packers play football and I do this as often as I can catch them on regular TV. But there is one other thing that can cause me to hit that remote button, ON. The Olympics! Winter or Summer I love to watch those...
Be Your Own Valentine!
My mentor and my friend, Tuck Self, who in her own words describes herself as "a bold southern voice", and has a passion for the subject of BG5-Human Design, advised me to write a Valentine to myself. So I did. I think I will now create myself a Valentine every year....
Winter Glasses!
As most of you are aware several states have been dealing with quite a bit of snow in the past two weeks. Our New England states, the Carolinas, Midwest and Ohio Valley states, and Southwest, including New Mexico who slid in with a whopping thirty-one inches of snow!...
Walk for Peace.
I know most of you have probably already seen these amazing monks on FaceBook walking their peace walk. I wanted to give them a shout out and thank them for their endurance and commitment to their "living meditation", walking for peace, and compassion for others. My...
Good vs. ?
One of the biggest things my tongue cancer taught me was that I have a voice. It took me awhile to come to understand this. As I child I believed there was no need to speak up about what was important to me, or state my own needs, or to be a verbal advocate for...
Looking for Joy!
I have not actually set any so called New Year resolutions for myself for 2026. But I have decided to allow myself to grow and to be conscious of that growth. I want to evolve with intention, to be mindful of what I am thinking, and as a result become aware of what I...
Happy New Year 2026 !
I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year on this last day of 2025. I hope many blessings flow to you throughout the year of 2026. May you have great expectations for your life, and allow unexpected assistance with all you want your life to become! Dreams do come...
Sandhill Cranes Migrating over Our Treehouse!
I just have to share about the Sandhill Cranes! I am not an official bird watcher... yet, but I do love the birds. And for the past three to four weeks the Sandhill Cranes have flown right over Our Treehouse. And I think, what a big deal it is that Our Treehouse is...
Take a Walk with Me!
I stepped outside, knowing the temperature was 30 degrees Fahrenheit, and reported to feel like 20 degrees with the wind chill factor. My Green Bay Packers toboggan was on my head, a thick scarf around my face, gloves on my hands, and a heavy coat and pants protected...