In January 2015, I packed for an extended trip to Cortona. I would accompany my partner to Italy where he'd teach students attending the University of Georgia Studies Abroad program. I included in my luggage origami papers to fold peace cranes. I was just shy of a hundred to reach my goal of folding a thousand.

I began the crane-folding project four years ago after a call from my sister-in-law telling us that her breast cancer had metastasized to her lungs and bones.

I was not new to cancer. I was also in treatment and I'd been a caregiver to my partner through two diagnoses, one advanced. Clare's new diagnosis got my attention in a "wake-up, Susan" kind of way. I realized anew that we are visitors on this beautiful planet for a short time.

I began the project as a way to work with painful feelings around Clare's diagnosis. As I fold, I think about Clare and all the people in the world who have cancer. I breathe in their and my discomfort of cancer and breathe out comfort to them and me. (This practice is called tonglen.)

I can't remember the first crane I gave away. I just started folding and giving. The legend goes like this: after folding a thousand cranes a wish is granted. I will give the last crane and wish to Clare.

This project makes me think about giving and receiving. I wonder, so who is the giver and who is the receiver of this project?

Here's what I'm learning: life is give and take. Not give or take. So this means, giving a crane is like receiving a crane. A thousand times. It's an example of what Gandhi means when he says, "The fragrance remains in the hand that gives the rose."

When I arrived in Italy, I left cranes in churches and marketplaces and gave them to strangers I passed. I also gave cranes to students.  Jessi Helmrich was one of those students. Early one morning she surprised me by saying, "I would like to paint your portrait folding the cranes and memorialize this gift." She did and then gave the painting to me. Thank you, Jessi. xo

Postscript - Clare died September 4, 2015 in Oak Park, IL with her family around her.