Birthday Bonanza

Here's my purple martini, complete with edible orchid.

Wowza.  I didn't really feel much like celebrating this year.  I know, I know, I should enjoy every moment, live life to the fullest, yadda yadda.  And for the most part, I am trying to do that.  But I still am not ready to say the SCT (auto-stem cell transplant) is off the table and it's the end of cancer for us.  No one has mentioned the word remission yet, we still have a ways to go.  Even if I am lucky enough to beat this thing, I don't know that I'll ever be fearless enough to say it's the end of cancer (unless, of course, there's a freaking CURE!!!). 

 Back to the birthday.  While I typically have extremely high hopes for my birthday (I have cried on every birthday I've ever had), this year I just wanted to have a birthday.

So, when I awoke on February 2nd with "favorable" scan results (oh, and an ice storm - my husband got to hang around for an extra 2 hours before work), I was delighted.  I enjoyed some alone time in the morning, bargain shopping and treating myself to a new carseat for Judah.  A car seat?  A treat?  Yes, I'm tired of pinching my fingers in the non-Britax car seat belt and so I bought a newer, better seat that will last him up to 100 lbs.  Happy Birthday to me.

The afternoon was full of fun such as vacuuming, doing laundry and tidying up the house.  This may seem mundane and lame-O to most people, but I can appreciate the fact that I am able to do these things for myself now and I take a sense of pride and accomplishment in feeling productive afterwards.

Happiest Flowers Ever.

Throughout the day, I checked my email and each time, the Book of Face provided me with 29, 43, 17 new emails - lovely birthday wishes from old friends, family members near and far.  I certainly felt loved.  I mentioned the fact that I'd received over 100 birthday messages at dinner that night (my parents took us 3 out to Earth Bread & Brewery in Mt. Airy - very tasty beer and toasty pizza-bread), including a video-serenade from my 4th graders that brought tears to my eyes (made by my tech savvy co-teacher at school).  Dan's response: Yeah, there's Steeler Nation, then slightly below (in terms of sheer number of people) that is Mia's Fan Club.

Hard to tell here, but it's purple (duh).  Now on our bedroom wall.

Cards, flowers, artwork, new boots, Georgetown cupcakes, gift certificates, new music, chocolates, homemade toffee, flannel pajamas, delicious dinner with my friends (I'm still giggling today), new stamps plus purple ink and sparkly stickers:  I truly do feel loved.  I might even say that although I shed a few tears, this was my best birthday yet (without a doubt the one I've appreciated being here to enjoy the most).  Sometimes I guess it pays to not get too excited for your birthday.  You might just be surprised.  (And also, thank you to everyone involved in making it a lovely love-filled birthday time.)

Milestone note:  I got my hair cut last week.

Dibbs on the LEMON!!  DC Blitsteins ROCK!

This did not feel as monumental as I thought it would, but at least now there exists a style upon my head.  I've made the decision to keep it short at least until my PET scan results are in.  My reasoning being if it's SCT for me, I don't want to have to lose lots of hair a second time.  I will say this about short hair:  The cut truly does matter.  If your stylist gives your head the wrong shape, you can very easily look like a 12 year old boy.

Luckily for me, I have both an excellent stylist and my hair is growing back just as thick as before.  For some reason, the front is taking a while to get long, but at least I have full follicular coverage.  When I look at pictures of myself from a few months ago, I can't believe I thought I had hair.

Love you guys.

xxoo