Elizabeth Edwards

My goodness, people like to judge other people, don’t they?

The Edwards were in the news again today, briefly, because Elizabeth has said that she is not going to divorce John. And I just had to vent somewhere about all the dirtbags judging her like they know crap about crap.

John’s actions were as smarmy and disgusting as they can get. But that’s that. His political career is beyond over, so I don’t much care any further about what their personal relationship decisions are. But you would not believe the people calling Elizabeth horrible names, accusing her of terrible things, because she’s staying with him. Ugliness aside, I could understand the opinions if she were in a normal situation. (“She’s just being power-hungry.” Um, power-hungry for what? His public career is buried. And running for office is not in her future, so…) But she’s not, and clearly none of these people have terminal cancer, nor the class, brains or empathy to understand or respect how that might affect EE’s decision here.

Would I stay? Ugh. I don’t know if I could stomach it, but should she spend the end of her life in a series of lawyer meetings and court-dates, wallowing in the insult of it all? Of course no one wants him to seem to “get off easy” by his wife’s forgiveness. But if she divorces him, what is that doing to get her at this point, where quality of life is her concern? Is she going to pull a Stella and “get her groove back”, go to Jamaica and meet a hot new younger hunk to treat her right just so they can…awkwardly bring him into the family, struggle for him to win the affection of her kids and fit in, (possibly) just in time for her to pass away?

It just goes to show you, there’s a lot about cancer that people who’ve not had it may never understand, even if they read every medical article out there. Though it sure won’t stop them from pretending.

Most Worthless Romantics Ever

A week after my high school reunion and I’m finally back to say what you can probably guess by my slothful follow-up: there is nothing much to say. Indeed, we are all blissfully, perfectly lacking those drama-inducing teenage hormones and it was nothing but nice to see everyone. Mostly, it strikes how you odd it is to see everyone looking exactly the same, but adult. Like meeting everyone’s twin brother or sister all at once. There were of course some who surprised us by not showing up (often those that live within a 20 mile radius, oddly) and vice-versa. The only shame is that I found myself dividing my time exactly the way I did in highschool – a few minutes here and a few minutes there, but mostly hanging out at my own table with those who had been my closest friends, glad that our husbands all seemed to get along smashingly, so that we ex-Trojans didn’t feel so guilty that they knew no one. There were many people I meant to spend more time with, but before we knew it, it was over.

…

Yesterday was perhaps the biggest waste of a day I’ve ever had. It poured rain outside, which gave Del and I a convenience excuse for not trying harder, but still. You know when you want to go somewhere and do something, but you don’t know what? So you do nothing but sit around and moan that you’re wasting your day? (Spoken like someone without kids, right?) Well that’s what yesterday was, and I moaned all day about wanting to call this friend or that friend or go to this or that. And did nothing. I didn’t even write. Instead I just felt guilty about wasting a precious day of my life – though I did tell hubby that I was happy to waste it with him.

Which is a good thing, because this morning Del rolled over and looked at the calendar on his clock. “Was yesterday….?” he counted off silently on his fingers. “Oh dammit. It was.” I knew exactly what he was going to say.

Six months. Our six month anniversary, and not only did we not even acknowledge it – it was the most wasted day to memory of our entire adult lives. Gah! Again, at least we wasted it together. Are we romantic or what?

High School Reunion

15 years. Yowza, that’s hard to believe.

So I’m home this weekend at my dad’s place, out sick from work due to a mysterious (and damned) headache that has lasted for 5 days. Five days! (As a side note to that, yes, I went to the Dr. here today, finally getting really worried when it spiked up again last night. She thinks it is just a “wierd presentation of a sinus” issue…so fingers crossed it goes away by Monday, or I’ll be needing to have another look at it.) And – finally – we’re having a high school reunion.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years. And also that it took us this long to get a reunion together.  (So much for Sr. Class Pres.!) Like many of you who have gone to these things, I’m ambivalent. I’m not terribly bothered either way about where people ended up, though I am happy to find that I have no particular need for anyone to know about me either.  I feel neither the pressure of an under nor over-achiever that one might expect from these things.  I am a real sucker for wanting to know how stories end though, so I’ll satisfy that cat. Mostly I fear being confronted with a bunch of people that I don’t remember. (Hopefully that’s just normal and not the sign of incredible arrogance on my part!) I’ve rounded up a couple of must-have old friends to commit to showing and though there are a number who won’t make it*, I’m hoping we’ll have so much fun that we’ll just have to do it again and next time everyone will come! I do like the idea of talking to some of these people that I knew for so long, without the dramatic blur that is teenage hormones tinting our thoughts and conversations! (Mystery: what will we see without that blindfold?!)

It’ll either be a blast or a train wreck – I’ll let you know!

*On that note, have I said recently that I hate cancer? Tonight I called one of my friends whom I had lost touch with over the years, to hear that her younger brother – who has struggled his whole life with  severe, debilitating Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – is in the midst of the whirlwind that is cancer diagnosis and planned treatment. His case sounds rare, advanced, complicated and painful, with a terrifying prognosis. Talk about a kid who can’t catch a break…so if you have some spare thoughts/prayers/whatever-you-do lying around, I nominate this family as a deserving candidate for those attentions.

New Gene Mutation Found Responsible for 50% of Breast Cancers (and some others)

Ok so this isn’t yet a posting of the Mt. Vernon Sunset Wine Tasting Tour. But if you read here regularly you know that I am always a bit slow with the photo posting. (It is a slight pain since my current version of iPhoto doesn’t allow me to download selected photos only. Strange but true – so I always have a 300 photo download of shots that I’ve already rejected off my archive 10 times over. And now I’m flat out busted, since I’m out of town for probably 5 days.) But I will get there.

First, some big breast cancer news – especially interesting since I just completed my second go-round of the most extensive gene testing available: a new gene mutation has been discovered that is believed to be responsible for up to 50% of breast cancers! (Just for reference, BRCA 1/2 are only responsible for about 10%).

Now, according to this initial report, it sounds like this is not an inherited mutation, but one that happens within one’s lifetime. Given my strong family history, this would seem like “not my thing”. However, it does not rule it out. Plus, perhaps there is a genetic component to the gene’s propensity to degrade within a lifetime.

This is not to say that this new NRG1 gene has anything to do with my cancer. Simply, it’s interesting that my genetic results were supposed to be that my cancer has a genetic component, yet one that has apparently not been discovered yet. And here, just on the heels of that opinion, is one such new discovery.

You can find the full article here.

Washington Wine Tour

As there is talk about Del and I moving back across the pond within a year’s time or so (we’ll see, don’t ask!), we’re extra-motivated to take advantage of all the cool things there are to do around here. Tonight, for the first time in a while, we’re doing one of those things – a Wine Festival and Tour at Mt. Vernon!

I’m pretty excited. Del and I both think Washington’s Estate is a pretty impressive landmark and, though we’ve been there before (spending a really lovely afternoon there with my sis and niece earlier this summer), this weekend is one of its anticipated special events.

We scored 2 tickets off some nice guy on Craigslist whose date fell through, a guy who only charged us less than what they’re worth even though we offered over twice what they’re worth! But he said he’d stick to his word in his advertisement – isn’t that nice of him?! (Based on that integrity alone I’d like ot be friends with him!) So anyhow, we get two tickets for a wine tasting on the east lawn – overlooking the Potomac River – and a night tour of the house along with the usually-closed wine cellar. Wicked, huh? There were picnic baskets for sale but those were sold out. No worries – we’ll take our blanket and buy some other food while we toast to the view that or first president had from his home! Keep your fingers crossed that the weather will remain beautiful (it’s supposed to rain, though it’s gorgeous now) and if all of your good will succeeds,  I’ll post photos tomorrow. (Ok, you got me.  I’ll post photos anyway. But we’ll drink a  toast to you also if we’re sitting under a lovely warm evening!)