Living Large

I feel great.

I feel NORMAL and that feels great. It’s amazing how a little taste of illness can make a normal, average day suddenly seem spectacular.

Memorial Day weekend was a load of fun. The sailing club hosted a regatta over the weekend and we had a number of out of town boats that attended. All of the sailors are good, old friends who have been coming to our Memorial Day regatta for years. Once again, I am reminded of how many bright, fun-loving and caring people I am lucky enough to call friends.

I did not race on any of the boats this weekend. I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling so I didn’t commit to crewing for anyone. But as Commodore of the club (or “Commodorable” as some call me) I was present on the shore for most of the event. We started off with a “Welcome Aboard” party Friday night. It gave me the chance to say hello to all of the out-of-towners and to show everyone how well I had survived chemo number one. I was almost tempted to have a beer but I was feeling so good I decided not to risk it!

The racing started on Saturday morning but I didn’t drive out to the lake until noon or so. Just as I got there all of the boats were coming into the docks for a break in the action. As I was walking down to the docks to say hello, a friend hurried past me and said, “I love all of the pink ribbons!” I thought to myself, “What in the heck is she talking about?”

As I got closer to the docks, I realized that every boat had a PINK RIBBON trailing off the back of its boom! Thirty plus sailboats were flying pink in honor of ME!! Turns out Ben, my husband, was responsible for the whole thing. He bought rolls of ribbon and passed it out to everyone. Was that sweet or what?? It was one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever had! I felt very loved and supported by my friends. Ben definitely gets to put some brownie points in the bank for this one.

After the racing wrapped up on Sunday, we invited a large group of sailors to our house for dinner. We ate, swapped stories, and laughed. Late in the evening, our talented friend, Rob, picked up an unused Martin guitar that lives at our house and began to play. He was fabulous - especially when he played his own original songs. I finally broke down and had a few drinks which led to a little bit of dancing on the kitchen floor:) We played around until 3:00 in the morning - yikes! It was such a treat to have good friends and live music in our home; I had so much fun! The music and the company were really good food for the soul.

I feel great.