October Resolutions

I’ve been thinking about sharing some ideas and recent experiences lately, and I remembered – it occurred to me Thursday night around 1am – that I have a blog!  Holy crap!  Judging by the date of my last post (feel free to scroll down to see that horror), I seem to have completely forgotten about this little dude, leaving him all alone, floating around in cyberspace, totally unloved.  That’s no bueno. 

I’ve also been thinking about my writing skills lately and how I’m not…really…using…them.  Like at all.  Sure, I write emails at work all day long, but in terms of actual writing?  Even something like a blog post?  Nada.  Judging by the major award* I won in college for writing, I should probably keep this skill polished up, and what better way to do it than by sharing things here.

October coincides with a time of the year that only became important to me around four years ago, when Mom was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer.  Before that point, I remember seeing the whole world go pink-ish** for a month, but it never really meant a lot to me.  Now, it’s a time to take stock and think back on the wonderful medical professionals who helped Mom through her surgery, chemo, radiation, and tons of assorted appointments; the friends and family who dropped everything to help (including my incredible brother Jim and sister-in-law Leigh for the huge amounts of time they spent, since Chris and I are so far away); and Mom herself, who never lost her sense of humor throughout the entire process.***

I remember her calling me with her diagnosis; Chris and I had gone to see one of the Fast and Furious movies (Yes, seriously, in the theater.  Don’t judge me), and I knew she was planning on calling me after her biopsy.  When I answered the phone, she was crying, and she mentioned that when the cells for the biopsy were pulled out, even the doctor knew something was wrong.  I remember crying softly in the empty theater lobby, talking with her for awhile, and telling her that we’d get through this, whatever came our way.  I hung up, went back to the theater, cuddled up next to Chris, and finished watching the movie (my insistence.  I needed some mindless entertainment at that moment).  On the way home, I broke down in the car (thankfully, Chris was driving), but after crying it out for awhile and a few drinks, I could handle life again.

Thankfully, everything went well with Mom’s surgery, treatment, and recovery, and four and a half years later, she’s cancer free and has a 98% chance of staying that way.  As our friend Jake would say, boo-yah.  Truly, that’s outstanding.  

I tend not to make New Year’s resolutions, as I view the whole shebang as a rather empty exercise.  Setting goals on just one day of the year with the rest of the world, then inevitably abandoning them a few weeks later?   Fine if it works for you, but not my bag.  I set goals and love to work toward them, but I prefer a timeframe that works for me and gives me a good chance at success.  Now, whenever October rolls around and Charmin busts out the pink packaging, it makes me want to take stock of the wonderful things in my life and make a few resolutions for the future.

One of these resolutions is the reason I’ve jotted this all down, and that’s to make time for writing more often.  Hopefully, posts in the future will be more exciting or humorous, but they may not – fair warning.  Since my goal is to blog at least once a week, many of them will probably be filled with the minutiae of everyday life (like on Tuesday, when I replaced my old, broken lanyard with a new one on my badge at work!  WINNING!), but hopefully, they’ll at least keep everyone amused and help me hone my skills.

At least this blog post comes with a picture – there’s your reward for sticking around so long.  Since I had a hair appointment last night and it was October after all, I asked if my hairdresser had anything she could do to help me celebrate the month.  Voila!

All right, enough rambling for now.  Catch everyone next week!

Amy

PS - If you want to donate, it being Breast Cancer Awareness Month and all, here's the link to the Susan G. Komen website.  It's tax deductible, and it's an amazing cause.  http://ww5.komen.org/Donate/Donate.html

* “Major” here being used rather sarcastically.  I think I beat out 15 of my counterparts (sleep-deprived college sophomores, mainly) by actually turning something halfway legible on time and in some semblance of order.  I believe my grand prize was $50, which was bank in those days, and I immediately spent a good 10% of it on a festive evening out at Taco Bell.  Those were the days.

** My simultaneous greatest joy and most terrifying nightmare?  The pink gear on NFL players throughout the month.  Good God, there are some retina-searing color combos out there, but I truly love the idea of a 320 pound linebacker wearing cotton candy-colored shoes. 

*** As an example, she called me one day near the end of chemo to tell me her one remaining eyelash on her left eye had gone totally rogue, deciding to turn itself around and poke her directly in the eyeball.  It fell out later that day.