Tonight's picture was taken on May 23, 2008. I remember that moment in time like it were yesterday. Mattie came home from school on that lovely spring day. It was a Friday, and when Peter came home from work, I suggested we walk down to the Potomac River and take Mattie on a river cruise. Mattie loved boats and of course he jumped at the chance. I am so happy we did that and I captured that moment. It was a real spur of the moment decision and activity but it was something we all did and enjoyed as a family.
Quote of the day: No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader. ~ Robert Frost
Robert Frost's quote actually made me laugh when I read it. I have been told throughout my years of writing the blog that my writings have made my readers cry, laugh, and experience a full range of emotions. Most likely whatever emotion I am feeling at the time that I am writing the blog. Or at least that is my hope because my goal is to convey my thoughts but also my feelings through my words.
I want to tell you about two surprises. They are not huge to most people, but I celebrate small victories these days and positive interactions with people! I call them surprises in my day. So NO I did not win the lottery or anything big like that. However, before my surprises, I went to a childhood cancer meeting today to discuss lobbying issues with other cancer organizations. After the meeting I chatted with another parent that I happened to know who is an advocate. I think part of doing this kind of work is that it can be very disillusioning. You can get trapped at working around the clock, trying to accomplish whatever your goal is (and each of us has our own goal whether it is looking for a cure, addressing psychosocial issues, you insert the issue) and in the mean time burn out physically and emotionally. The problem is the issues are still ever present and one has to ask one's self at the end of the day..... did what I do make a difference? Does any of this matter? This is a rhetorical question in a way because it is not like he or I are going to do anything else. We both quit our former jobs and life. We both have no interest in what we did before. Yet for me I have times when I am frazzled, tired, and when I listen to banter for four hours and see things not progressing year after year in the childhood cancer lobbying world, I wonder.
Onto my surprises. Today I was contacted by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (http://www.nccn.org/). In about two weeks, Peter and I are going to Florida to attend this conference and present a research poster regarding our psychosocial standards of care project that we have been funding. NCCN wanted me to know that our abstract for this poster was going to be published in their hard copy journal. That did not mean much to me until they told me that only the top 12 poster abstracts got selected to be published in their hard copy journal. To be a part of the top 12, one has to meet a rigorous review point process. So I was thrilled because NCCN is known for its practical guidelines in the cancer world.
The other nice surprise has to do with a positive interaction I had with a general manager at a restaurant I frequent. I was most upset on Sunday after a terrible interaction with an employee at this restaurant. This is a restaurant I have been a loyal patron of over 13 years and one that Mattie loved. In any case, after interacting with this individual, I wrote an email to the restaurant and fortunately documented my complaint. I called to follow up with the restaurant's private event manager because I am hosting a dinner there on Tuesday night and while talking to her, I told her my issue. She suggested I talk to the general manager directly. I did, and he was delightful. He wanted me to forward the email I wrote to the restaurant to him directly and he was deeply sorry to hear about my experience and wants to make it right! So we shall see what that means. In any case, part of the issue about being treated poorly is feeling like no one understands or is listening to you. The fact that the general manager heard my concern and will be addressing my feedback with his employee was exactly what I needed to hear.
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