I hope it's karma...

It's been a tough couple weeks. Following a month-long trip, you come back to ramping everything up. Everything ramps up together (insert a youth con and a nasty cold here), and then crests and crescendos together. Add in a trip to Austin where I was doing 3-4 hours of work after we got done with the rest of the day, a weekend home, and then off to Las Vegas for a conference. The toilets had problems on the plane, which meant that what should have been a no-brainer connection to the shuttle meant I missed it by 5 minutes and then had to wait through a major taxi line.

But when I got to the hotel - no, really, it's a resort - they ran out of rooms with king beds, so they upgraded me to a junior suite.

This room is about 2/3 - 3/4 as big as my house. Two rooms. Two bathrooms. A bar. A lounge area. Potentially the nicest bed I've ever slept in.

The pool area here actually has - what would you call them, "cabana beds"? Seriously, beds you can hang out (no blankets, but mattress & pillow) on near the pool. Super comfy pool chairs. All kinds of outdoor hang-out areas - we held out last class outside today. Oooh. It's been fabulous.

And today it was pretty amazing in that when I checked in over break... I didn't have any fires to put out. Wow. I can sleep tonight without thinking about anything? Sweet.

Hurdle number.... #47?

Something like that. I went in for my 6-month check-up mammogram today and I got the ALL CLEAR! ALL F*IN CLEAR!

You know, I'm pretty good at deflecting anxiety, at least consciously, but I was not particularly surprised to find myself tearing up on the way over, remembering some of the things I did have to face. Something I learned from family members on my trip was that my mother was not nearly as calm to others as what she presented to me. I'd sorta heard that from my sisters, but I told mom that they had enough to deal with and leave them alone.

The tech tried to convince me to sign up for the Macy's Breast Cancer Survivor Fashion Show. I told her I don't like publicity, I don't like fashion, and I don't like people fussing over me. She said, "well, you need to celebrate!" I said, oh, that I did. Between the party and the road trip, believe me, I celebrated.

As it is Breast Cancer Awareness month, as a survivor, I was allowed to pick out a scarf. Someone had decided to donate scarves for survivors, and wound up getting over 250 of them donated by various people. Mine is a gorgeous orange-and-raspberry sherbet colored angora yarn scarf. It was very kind of someone to do this... whomever you are, thank you.

What if the hokey pokey IS what it's all about?

The following is from the Washington Post Style Invitational contest that asked readers to submit "instructions" for something (anything), but written in the style of a famous person. The winning entry was The Hokey Pokey (as written by William Shakespeare).

O proud left foot, that ventures quick within
Then soon upon a backward journey lithe.
Anon, once more the gesture, then begin:
Command sinistral pedestal to writhe.
Commence thou then the fervid Hokey-Poke,
A mad gyration, hips in wanton swirl.
To spin! A wilde release from Heavens yoke.
Blessed dervish! Surely canst go, girl.
The Hoke, the poke -- banish now thy doubt
Verily, I say, 'tis what it's all about.

I'm sorry, that's fabulous.