While I definitely hit a shitty lottery with getting cancer at such a young age, I can't overstate how much I won the absolute jackpot in terms of my friends and family. You all have been so great about reaching out, checking in, showering me with insane gifts, and just keeping me busy and my mind off things these past few months.
Example A- I showed up to chemo on Monday morning with Greg and my parents. We had an easy ride over, and then found a spot right in front of the infusion center. As we were driving up, I had noticed a woman walk into the center with a suitcase. I thought to myself, 'huh, that's a strange look for chemo.' As we got closer, though, I realized that I recognized the woman. The woman was Audrey.
For those of you who don't know, Audrey and I did our master's at Sciences Po Paris together and became instant friends. As we like to tell people, we are both Franco-American, but when I speak French, I have an American accent, and when Audrey speaks English, she has a French accent. She is the yin to my franglais yang, my sister from another mister. Here is a photo of her and I at the Centre Pompidou a few years back*:
So back to the chemo center last Monday. Audrey, being the total mensch that she is, had flown in from PARIS* to surprise me. When I realized it was her, I freaked out, kept exclaiming, "WHAT?", hugged her, and started sobbing like a baby.** Luckily Greg caught this all on video, which I will attempt to share here:
Because both my brothers are planning on coming out for my last chemo next week, Jeremy decided not to fly out for my penultimate session (also because he knew I'd already have company this past week). Knowing I'd be down a bro, I had already invited Nicole and Martina to come hang during chemo. Keeping with the theme of amazing friends, these two ladies showed up with incredible snacks and even better vibes. They have both been such consistent supports for me throughout this whole process. With Audrey there too, it was a real chemo party:
As for the rest of the week, Audrey's visit was especially (and intentionally) well-timed, because Greg was heading up to New Hampshire on Wednesday after my session for dance camp. Audrey and I spent the week catching up, watching movies, doing a little work together, napping, and just generally chilling:
On Thursday, Elana, who had met Audrey on a trip to Paris, joined us for a burger at our local joint:
On Friday, before Audrey had to catch her flight back home, we had a great romp around Brooklyn. We walked up to Windsor Terrace to eat lunch, then headed over to walk around Greenwood Cemetery****. After that, we walked down to Industry City before heading home and getting Audrey out for her flight:
I'm not sure if it was Audrey's great vibes, the acupuncture that I tried on Tuesday, or just generally getting used to this treatment, but I felt MUCH better than the two previous T sessions. The week, unlike most post-treatment ones, zoomed by. It was so wonderful to have that quality time, and I am just overwhelmed with gratitude for having a friend like Audrey in my life. I miss her already. Audrey tu me manques deja meuf, Je love you.
Though I was definitely bummed after Drey left, I kept busy going into the weekend with more wonderful friend moments. That night, Martina and Elizabeth came by for shabbat dinner with my mom and I. We had some of my meds, watched the latest episode of GBBO, and laughed our faces off. Regrettably there are no photos, but the memory of our chinnoto and weed cocktail will stay with me forever.
On Saturday AM, I had plans to head out with Nicole to her parents' place on Long Island for the third time this summer. Marilu and Jorge have been welcoming me out there for over ten years and they are absolutely wonderful. Nicole and I got an early start out there, and the four of us spent the day driving out east to Greenport. We stopped at local farms, ate incredible corn, and enjoyed the perfect weather. Nicole and I ended the day walking down the road from her parents house to bay:
On Sunday, the Basile's had planned a little party with Nicole's grandparents and some other friends. We hung out, swam in their pool, ate enchiladas, paella, and the appropriate pies from Brieremere farms*****, and laughed a ton:
Oh, and Nicole and Steve gave me YET ANOTHER beautiful gift from Argentina, a wool scarf/poncho hybrid that comes in the most perfect fall burnt siena. Nicole, Steve, and I drove back home today, where I said goodbye to Nicole before she heads to Spain for over a month to start her dissertation research. I will sorely miss her, but am just so happy/grateful for all of the quality time that we've shared this summer. Back at home, I was reunited with my Grisha, who is back from dance camp and had plenty of fun stories to share.
As I write this, the tick tock clock of summer is officially reaching its final hour. I feel the familiar pang of melancholy that washes over me every year as the days get shorter and colder and we head back to campus. This year, for obvious reasons, is especially strange. I would say that this summer of chemo has felt like a wash, or a daze, or an alternate dimension. In many ways it has. But it has also been a reminder of the people in my life that make it worth living. The people that make the mere thought of leaving this big, messy, beautiful world so hard. As Audrey put it after our dinner with Elana, "Man, you're so lucky. None of your friends are bitches." Lucky, indeed.
* I know this may be strange to say, but it hard to imagine that I ever had hair. It is absolutely bizarre to me how quick humans adapt.
**Well, technically, she had just taken the bus down from Montreal, where she had spent the week doing a training on urban agriculture. But she flew to there from Paris!
***In fact, I sobbed so loud that the nurses came out to see what was going on. As they told me later, they were very relieved to see that they were 'happy tears.' NTS that you can't just sob uncontrollably at a cancer center.
****I know, I know, nothing says cancer like walking through a cemetery! But it's absolutely beautiful.
*****If you're curious, ask me (or Katie) about the great pie disaster of July 2019. The moral of the story: sometimes our husbands are real dopes.
Example A- I showed up to chemo on Monday morning with Greg and my parents. We had an easy ride over, and then found a spot right in front of the infusion center. As we were driving up, I had noticed a woman walk into the center with a suitcase. I thought to myself, 'huh, that's a strange look for chemo.' As we got closer, though, I realized that I recognized the woman. The woman was Audrey.
For those of you who don't know, Audrey and I did our master's at Sciences Po Paris together and became instant friends. As we like to tell people, we are both Franco-American, but when I speak French, I have an American accent, and when Audrey speaks English, she has a French accent. She is the yin to my franglais yang, my sister from another mister. Here is a photo of her and I at the Centre Pompidou a few years back*:
So back to the chemo center last Monday. Audrey, being the total mensch that she is, had flown in from PARIS* to surprise me. When I realized it was her, I freaked out, kept exclaiming, "WHAT?", hugged her, and started sobbing like a baby.** Luckily Greg caught this all on video, which I will attempt to share here:
Because both my brothers are planning on coming out for my last chemo next week, Jeremy decided not to fly out for my penultimate session (also because he knew I'd already have company this past week). Knowing I'd be down a bro, I had already invited Nicole and Martina to come hang during chemo. Keeping with the theme of amazing friends, these two ladies showed up with incredible snacks and even better vibes. They have both been such consistent supports for me throughout this whole process. With Audrey there too, it was a real chemo party:
On Thursday, Elana, who had met Audrey on a trip to Paris, joined us for a burger at our local joint:
On Friday, before Audrey had to catch her flight back home, we had a great romp around Brooklyn. We walked up to Windsor Terrace to eat lunch, then headed over to walk around Greenwood Cemetery****. After that, we walked down to Industry City before heading home and getting Audrey out for her flight:
I'm not sure if it was Audrey's great vibes, the acupuncture that I tried on Tuesday, or just generally getting used to this treatment, but I felt MUCH better than the two previous T sessions. The week, unlike most post-treatment ones, zoomed by. It was so wonderful to have that quality time, and I am just overwhelmed with gratitude for having a friend like Audrey in my life. I miss her already. Audrey tu me manques deja meuf, Je love you.
Though I was definitely bummed after Drey left, I kept busy going into the weekend with more wonderful friend moments. That night, Martina and Elizabeth came by for shabbat dinner with my mom and I. We had some of my meds, watched the latest episode of GBBO, and laughed our faces off. Regrettably there are no photos, but the memory of our chinnoto and weed cocktail will stay with me forever.
On Saturday AM, I had plans to head out with Nicole to her parents' place on Long Island for the third time this summer. Marilu and Jorge have been welcoming me out there for over ten years and they are absolutely wonderful. Nicole and I got an early start out there, and the four of us spent the day driving out east to Greenport. We stopped at local farms, ate incredible corn, and enjoyed the perfect weather. Nicole and I ended the day walking down the road from her parents house to bay:
On Sunday, the Basile's had planned a little party with Nicole's grandparents and some other friends. We hung out, swam in their pool, ate enchiladas, paella, and the appropriate pies from Brieremere farms*****, and laughed a ton:
Oh, and Nicole and Steve gave me YET ANOTHER beautiful gift from Argentina, a wool scarf/poncho hybrid that comes in the most perfect fall burnt siena. Nicole, Steve, and I drove back home today, where I said goodbye to Nicole before she heads to Spain for over a month to start her dissertation research. I will sorely miss her, but am just so happy/grateful for all of the quality time that we've shared this summer. Back at home, I was reunited with my Grisha, who is back from dance camp and had plenty of fun stories to share.
As I write this, the tick tock clock of summer is officially reaching its final hour. I feel the familiar pang of melancholy that washes over me every year as the days get shorter and colder and we head back to campus. This year, for obvious reasons, is especially strange. I would say that this summer of chemo has felt like a wash, or a daze, or an alternate dimension. In many ways it has. But it has also been a reminder of the people in my life that make it worth living. The people that make the mere thought of leaving this big, messy, beautiful world so hard. As Audrey put it after our dinner with Elana, "Man, you're so lucky. None of your friends are bitches." Lucky, indeed.
* I know this may be strange to say, but it hard to imagine that I ever had hair. It is absolutely bizarre to me how quick humans adapt.
**Well, technically, she had just taken the bus down from Montreal, where she had spent the week doing a training on urban agriculture. But she flew to there from Paris!
***In fact, I sobbed so loud that the nurses came out to see what was going on. As they told me later, they were very relieved to see that they were 'happy tears.' NTS that you can't just sob uncontrollably at a cancer center.
****I know, I know, nothing says cancer like walking through a cemetery! But it's absolutely beautiful.
*****If you're curious, ask me (or Katie) about the great pie disaster of July 2019. The moral of the story: sometimes our husbands are real dopes.
That pie would taste better if it dropped on the floor first
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