Random Ramblings…

I went to an all-day meeting a couple of weeks ago. I never look forward to these because in my job I’m always busy, always on the move; the thought of sitting all day is not a happy one. But, there I was. Good part was that Mary was there, and I brought the wedding book to show her. Teresa had a hard-cover book made out of photos from her and Elliott’s wedding, so it was great to share that. After seeing pictures of my son John, Mary gave me her daughter’s business card, just in case they might want to hook up. The lady who started the presentation was a little annoying because she kept referring to her notes in her hand. It seems if you have a prepared (canned) PowerPoint, you should be able to talk from that (if you know your topic well) and not have to refer to notes. Other good thing was Patti was there. I knew between her and Mary I would be able to get through the day. The next lady who presented really annoyed me. She had on black slacks and a black top over which she was wearing a long, sheer dress – it took me awhile to figure out that a dress was what it was. I couldn’t imagine why someone presenting would wear such a long, flowing deal in front of a crowd. The dress was neck to toe and had buttons down the entire middle of it, but none of them were buttoned. The other thing was that down near the bottom a thread had caught on something, and you could easily see the defect it was causing. Anyway, I believe Mary said she wouldn’t be caught dead in such an outfit, but Patti said she would wear something like that, but not if she was as short as that lady. See what I mean about getting through with Mary and Patti? This presenter, too, referred too often to her hand-held notes, just my opinion; but this is my blog. Also, I feel that I can comment on presenters since I do a lot of it myself. I am always conscious of what I am wearing and if anything might be distracting to my audience. During a break, I chatted with Bonnie. She’s reached four years as a survivor. It always makes me feel more sane to talk to someone whom I respect and find out she has some of the same crazy cancer thoughts and fears that I do. There was a third lady with the presenting team. She was along to learn the ropes as earlier noted by the first presenter. During one working session, she circulated around and ended up at our table. I had noticed her earlier and thought that I liked her hair due to the unique style and attractive highlights (see, not all of my opinions are negative). When she sat next to me, I could see grey hair coming out from under her other hair in the back. I asked, “Are you wearing a wig?” She was, of course. No one else was in earshot at the time. We were at one end of the table. I asked, “Did you lose your hair?” This began a conversation that led me to find out we were almost on the same schedule with treatments and had had the same chemo regimen and now taking the same drug. She said that her hair had not grown in well, so she was continuing to wear the wig, which she actually liked anyway. I told her about Nioxin which I’ve been using since my hair first started growing back. I don’t know if it helped my hair or not, but she appreciated it and said she would try anything. The most interesting thing she said was that she had not had many challenges in her life. She said she got cancer and she got through it. She added, “But, I don’t want to do it again.” This reminded me of the story my dentist recently told me about his 70+ years old mother who had just gone through breast cancer. I was a captive audience as he cleaned my teeth. He entertained me the whole time with stories about his mother and grandmother. About his mother though, she announced that having finished treatments, she was through with breast cancer. She wasn’t going to put any pink ribbons on her car or anywhere else and she was never again going to say the words “breast cancer.” Before I left the dentist’s office that day, I told him to say “Hello” to his mother for me. He said he would, but he couldn’t mention the other thing. People are pretty funny, aren’t they? Everyone deals with cancer in their own way. By that time in the meeting, Robert had arrived for lunch and the afternoon session. Then each school worked on its own report. The session was scheduled to end at 3:30, which for me would be a half hour early out. That was about the only thing that made the day palatable…early out. At around 2:30, our team was basically done with the report. Robert decided he and I could go back to school, or actually go to school, since I hadn’t been there all day. As we left through the lobby, we thumbed our noses at Mary and George; no one else could see this immature, but funny, behavior. Wait a minute, I got an early out from the meeting, but now was going back to school where I would have to stay until 4:00. I found out the next day that our team got out even earlier than 3:30. What a wrong turn of events that was…So much for thumbing noses.