my lovely lady lumps

my grandmother died of breast cancer when i was young, and almost since i understood what a mammogram was, i've been trying to get a medical professional to deem one  necessary (or at the least, pertinent).  but up until recently, the standard was that insurance would start covering mammograms at age 35.  so, when i had to visit a doctor a couple of months ago (something i very rarely do) for a physical ordered by my company, i asked her about a mammogram.  apparently the age has been upped to 40, but with family history, she went ahead and signed off on it.

it was about a month ago that i went in to the local 'breast center', not having any idea what to expect.  i've heard that for some women (including my mother) it's incredibly painful, but i mostly just found it a little uncomfortable and awkward (the awkwardness coming from the fact that you are not supposed to wear deodorant).  all went swimmingly until about a week and a half later, i received a call asking me to come back in for a re-check of the left breast.  numbly, without asking any questions, i scheduled the appointment. which was quickly followed by a mild nervous breakdown and a return call.  i was told that re-checks were common and that in my case, there was simply a dark area that they wanted to look at more closely.

fortunately, i was on the road for almost three weeks, so i didn't have a lot of free time for fretting.  and, when i arrived at the breast center today, i was feeling optimistic. it took longer than the first appointment, and i found myself trying to read every expression as the nurse first took a set of x-rays, than moved me into another room for a set of ultrasounds (never thought my first ultrasound would be on my breast!).

after she finished, she left the room and returned quickly with the doctor.  and while i never thought i'd hear a man tell me he didn't like my breasts (this is an all adult audience, right?), in this case it was a good thing. he said that he simply wanted to be overly careful since the tissue in my breast is extremely fibrous and has lots of 'twists and turns', but after doing his own set of ultrasounds, concluded there was nothing to be concerned about.

in the end, it was worth a little discomfort, awkwardness, and nervousness to have gained some peace of mind.

 

it's good to be home

saturday was one of those days that make me remember some of the things i do love about california.

i pulled sadie (the bike) out of her year long retirement, wiped her down, filled her tires, and load her on the car rack before heading down to meet jami at the church for a ride and some beach time.

this weekend was our annual mid-singles conference, and for the first year since my arrival in california, i opted to abstain from most of the activities.  mostly i was just road weary and knew i wouldn't have the social energy to make the most of the weekend, but, since the saturday afternoon schedule coincided nicely with my great need for some surf and sand, i made this one exception.

i was happy to be back on the bike, even though i knew my knee would not be so happy later, and i was happy to sit myself down on a towel and do some people watching before jami and i were met by another friend, whitney, and a visiting friend of hers.

after an hour or so of 'relax time' the four of us got back on our bikes and headed down to the pier to witness the huntington beach duck-a-thon. it's an annual event where folks can purchase rubber duckies (proceeds donated to charity).

it was a fun and unique experience to see the two john deere tractors roll slowly up the pier and release their rubber ducky loads into the ocean, where surfers maneuvered the waves and the ducks as they raced their way to the shore.  we watched until the first duck made landfall and a volunteer swooped it up, running to the announcer's booth, hand held high like she'd found the golden ticket.

 if only 'chariots of fire' had been playing, it would have been perfect, but i'll settle for nearly perfect any day!

mother's day

sometimes the sacrifices of the road warrior life are balanced by the perks of the road warrior life, and being able to spend mother's day with my mother (and father, sister, brother-in-law, and nieces) was a definite perk!

though our time was short (about 18 hours) it was packed full of chill family time -- something i never get enough of.

it's 3 am....

but i'm not lonely.

columbus clippers game

got back to the hotel at 2, finished packing, and since the alarm clock is set to go off in an hour, i'm going to pretend i'm 19 again and pull an all-nighter.

pretty sure it will come back to bite me, but for the moment, worth every minute of lost sleep.

see, when i headed into columbus on monday (leg 3 of a three week, 4 leg trip), i was pretty sure i was going to have a miserable time of it.  our mother ship (nationwide) brought in the 50 of us 'marketers' from california for 3 very full days of training, along with it's 700 local marketing team members.  i was already tired when i got here and knew i had one more leg to go.  i wasn't sure i was going to make it.

and it WAS an exhausting three days - general sessions and classes from 8:30am - 5pm each day (and that's A LOT of sitting), but there were a couple of pleasant surprises along the way.

first and foremost, this was team bonding like nothing i've experienced before in my current company.  in fact, i found myself learning more about some of my co-workers in 48 hours then i've learned about them in almost five years. and it has been awesome.  just getting some of these folks out of the office completely changed who i thought they were, and i'm certain that when we all get back to california, the department is going to have a very different feel. i am truly very excited about the experiences i shared with my team members this week.

secondly, in my first class, there happened to be an attractive young man (the guy on the far left) sitting at our table.  since all the classes were interactive with at least a couple of table exercises, we did actually get to interact a little bit.  and, never a shy one, later that night i connected with him in the digital space, which led to a few conversations throughout the course of the event, and culminated at a meetup tonight with he and a couple of his friends.  what ended up being so cool about this was not actually that one of his friends is 6'7" (and that he called my 5'9" self 'adorable', which tends to be reserved for 5'2" and 5'3"-ers) but that i felt like i was hanging out with old friends. old EAST COAST friends.

don't get me wrong. i know ohio isn't the east COAST. but it's east of the mississippi and north of the mason dixon, and boy did i need a little dose of that!  they were sharp and quick and sarcastic and a little judgmental  and it was fan-freaking-tastic. one of them is also a very frequent traveler, so we had a few really good laughs comparing cities, and hotels, and food apps, and everything else travel related. it was refreshing to have a conversation with someone who totally gets that it's not all parties and play, but that you have to make the most of what you've got.

one of my favorite wing-women, diana, was kind enough to play the role again, and at one point i actually asked her if hanging out with these guys had made me make more sense to her.  they were a perfect example of the kind of guys i would have hung out with in virginia, and it reminded me why it is that i struggle to connect with the men in california. it's just a different breed altogether.

i was immensely grateful for the three hours we spent together, and just how 'myself' it made me feel.

when i was here in february, i didn't think columbus had anything to offer me. i had a great time, but it seemed like a 'one and done' kind of city. needless to say, i have been pleasantly surprised by the great week i've had here!

oh happy day!

this, my friends, is what we call a happy dance. ...although 'happy' doesn't remotely do it justice.  this is a bliss-filled transcendentally euphoric (and slightly spastic) dance.

when my plane touched down in columbus, ohio, i switched on the phone and logged onto email to make sure nothing critical had come up.

awaiting me was an email from a co-worker who has basically made my life miserable for the last year.

since she was specifically brought on board to make my life easier (and reduce my travel schedule), it has been an emotion-filled year, full of frustration, anger, and disappointment.

until today.

today was the day that she gave her two weeks notice.

good things do come in threes and i'll be honest in saying that i have been praying that this would be the third.

one = a couple of potential romantic interests
two = confirming a move to long beach with my very good friend jami
three = getting my sanity back

words cannot even express.  it's simply amazing.