Grad Gal Reunion 2008

This was the out-of-town guest list:
---Chris from New York City
---Margaret and 4 year old Ella from Kingsport, Tennessee
---Eileen and 4 year old Cordelia from Summit, New Jersey
---Trina and 4 year old Saumya from Boise, Idaho
---Genice and 4 year old Jiana from Oakland, California


At the end of April, five fabulous women from my grad school days at the University of Texas made a visit to Austin for a "Grad School Reunion, Happy Gigi Remission, Excuse to eat BBQ & Mexican Food" weekend. Not only did I get to see my buddies again, but I got to meet their daughters as my friends traveled to Austin with their 4 year old girls! It was such a treat.

Not all of the women and children stayed with me. I just hosted Chris, Genice and Genice's daughter. The other out-of-town guests stayed with other local grad school gals who also joined us for some of the weekend activities.

Our weekend was organized with the same managerial tools that we all use in our professional lives. It took 1 conference call and at least 40 email exchanges to nail down the weekend and plan our various weekend activities. I think Margaret even wrote a follow up conference call report!

Over the 4 day weekend, we ate $120 of BBQ from County Line, drank one full refrigerator shelf of Shiner Bock beer, enjoyed Amy's Ice Cream and ate at Bill Clinton's favorite Mexican food restaurant in Austin---Guero's on South Congress. In addition, Genice hosted her daughter's birthday party at my house. Genice invited some faculty and staff from University of Texas and Texas State University to the party. It was the 90's all over again.

The weekend was not all about me, but it was about acknowledging the importance of friendships and life. We agreed to make our Grad School Reunion a somewhat regular event. We didn't want to wait until one of us got sick to see each other again.

That weekend, I was reminded how smart, articulate, and funny each of my friends remain. No wonder they are such successful professional women (and great moms, too). That weekend was like a Sex and the City reunion...without the sex, and without the city but with all the intensity of girlfriend bonding.




Here is a picture of some of my most beloved friends from UT and Texas State--all together in my dining room!
BACKROW: Mary Ann, Virginia, Jef, Debbie, Wei-Na, Trina & Saumya, Michelle
FRONTROW: Eileen & Cordelia, Genice & Jiana, Me and Emma, Margaret & Ella, Chris

Moving on and giving back

This week I went back to (paid) work. I moderated a series of focus groups, completed my report and prepared a bid for the possibility of another round of qualitative research for another client. It feels great to be working again. The only physical reminder of my recent illness is the silly wig that I still wear because my real hair is still too short. Everyone tells me that that very short hair is "in." I just think I look a bit angry and militant with hair that is 1 centimeter long. I don't like the extreme hair look. I like wearing my hair messy and unstyled with clip that looks like something I wore in 5th grade to hold my hair away from my face. I think I am 6 weeks away from going wigless and 6 months away from getting to wear my a barrette again.


I must say, I kind of enjoyed having the wig on as I moderated the groups and interacted with the client. It was like my my personal, devilish little secret. "He he he. No one knows this hair is fake."

On another note, I am so sad to hear that one of my neighbors was just diagnosed with cancer. So within the past two years, two other people living within three houses of me have been diagnosed with cancer. I can't help but wonder if there is something in the environment that is causing all of this illness. Is it just a coincidence? Just random bad luck for all of us? How many more people must get sick before we really start to worry?

All I known is that I am ready to return the favor of care and compassion that my good neighbor gave me when I was diagnosed. I am ready to help others through their chemo ordeal. My wonderful family and dear friends are the ones that helped me through my ordeal. Thank you!

Now it is time to give back.

My gift

Hello again, dear blog readers (if you are still there). I have been away from my blog but deeply wrapped up with life. Yes life! I am off the couch and experiencing the wonderful work-a-day issues of living, now with a different attitude.

So, I have had a few hits recently. Several weeks ago I woke up in the night with pain and numbness in my right arm and hand. The pain would just not go away. Because of my tiny laptop and cramped desk/chair set up, I figured my computer was the problem. I stayed away from my laptop for awhile, but the ache in my right hand and arm would just not go away. So, I decided to change my computer set up...new chair, new desk, new ergonomic keyboard, new keyboard tray, new monitor. The whole bit. It helped, but I was still suffering. I went to my doc. After poking around my arm and hands, he concluded "tennis elbow." I will be starting physical therapy next week. As I type this sentence, I still feel pain in my right arm.

Wait there's more....my hard drive crashed. This is the second crash in two years. After my last crash, I had a Mac Genius at the Genius Bar (which means the tech support guy at the mall Apple store) set up an elaborate two tier backup system--one backup to an external hard drive, the other to some mystical server in the Ethernet. Turns out that Mac Genius guy with the big holes in his ear lobes didn't set my backup software to copy my entire system. So, the important stuff was not saved. I did do an old fashioned backup on some thumb drives several months ago, so all is not lost. I am sending my hard drive to a data recovery service. They know me at the data recovery service. I attempted data recovery last time with no luck. I have very low expectations now.

I am amazingly upbeat. I could easily slip into a very familiar "poor me" attitude. I mean one day last week, I got the news that I had "tennis elbow" and that my hard drive crashed as I stood there with a wig on my head because I lost my hair to chemo. Instead, I am happy that I am so alive and active now that that I am getting hit with a healthy dose of life sh*t.

These past couple of weeks, I have been searching for how I have changed since my cancer diagnosis. Many people say they discover what is important in life. But I already knew what was important in life even before the diagnosis: my dear family and all of my wonderful friends (yes, all you guys out there.) In fact, the importance of family and friends was confirmed when I got sick. It was the love and attention that I got from everyone that helped me get through my recent ordeal.

So, I have been thinking how I have changed. Then I discovered it as I was walking into the mall to salvage my data..... Lost my data? Spent way too much money on a new computer set up? Hurting from tennis elbow? Gas prices now inching to $4 a gallon? Get over it!

For the rest of my life, nothing will ever be as bad as when I was diagnosed with cancer. Nothing. What a wonderful perspective. Cancer gives every survivor a gift. Cancer gave me the gift of perspective. I feel fairly invincible now.

In addition, I have returned to my professional life with renewed energy and creative vigor. While I have had to write for my work, it took this blog for me to discover joy in writing.

So, invincibility coupled with lots of creative juice...not bad.