An Inconvenient Tumor

I hope everyone had a great 3-day weekend. I hope everyone was able to actually "take" a 3-day weekend (I'm talking to you, advertising friends). If you weren't, I apologize as I'm about to tell you what a wonderful weekend Bryan and I just had. In painstaking detail. :)

For the first time in over a month, we were able to enjoy time with friends, family and truly relax. It was so incredibly nice. On Friday, a friend of mine celebrated her 30th birthday (but really, who isn't?) and we went to a beautiful dinner party hosted by her parents. There were about 30 of us there and it was in a private space at the Fairmont Miramar. The entire evening was gorgeous and it was our first night out in a long time. Believe it or not, we got all dressed up and it felt great. We almost forgot what it's like to have a "normal" social life. Almost.

Since Bryan didn't have to go back to radiation until today, we took advantage of the extra time and continued our social butterfly streak through the entire weekend. Bryan's parents drove down on Saturday and we took them to brunch at Taste (a local favorite of ours) and then took them on a "surprise afternoon adventure." We hadn't told them where we were going; only what to wear and what type of weather to expect. They could have thought we were going to the mountains, to the beach, etc. Well, turned out we went to a hillside home in Malibu, which I guess could be considered both. Lynette Carolla, Adam's amazing wife, planned and hosted the Inaugural "ShakesBEER Kegger," a charity event held in support of Shakespeare Festival/LA and the Los Angeles Shakespeare Center. It was hosted by Adam and Jay Leno and featured a slew of comedians: Jeffrey Ross, Bob Saget, Jim Norton, Patton Oswalt, etc. There was an auction, a full barbecue station and even a mobile Hot Dog on a Stick. I can't remember the last time I had Hot Dog on a Stick. Oh wait, yes I can. It was Saturday and it was delicious. :)

But the best part about Saturday was the opportunity for Bryan (his parents and me, too) to meet so many of you. It was fantastic to say "hello" and "thank you" to so many of the people behind the emails. Bryan had person after person coming up to him, offering him their well wishes, hugs, hand-shakes and sharing their own personal experiences with cancer. It was incredible; people had come as far as Vegas, New York, Portland, Chicago and even Canada and China to come to this event. You read right: someone flew from China to come to this event. Isn't that amazing? I'd say one of the most incredible parts of the day was when we met a friend's sister who, eight years ago, was diagnosed with the same type of tumor that Bryan currently has. Did you read that? She was diagnosed EIGHT years ago. She is not only still alive and kicking, she was just told by her doctor that she can go from having MRIs every 6-months to every 2 years. Talk about progress. She even referred to her tumor in the "past tense," saying that she often forgets that she still has it. It was a brilliant conversation and so inspiring for us to see what Bryan (no doubt about it) will be like eight years from now.

After the event, we didn't feel like going home. We wanted to bask in the beauty of the day and just enjoy our time with each other. We spontaneously went to dinner at MoonShadows on PCH. We got a table where we felt the waves literally crash under our feet and watched the sunset, chatted and simply relaxed for almost three hours. It's always so good for Bryan to have "mom and dad" time, and for me to have "soon-to-be mom- and dad-in-law" time. It's just so wonderful to relax, laugh and spend quality time together doing something or doing nothing. Oh, and our actual dinner was amazing, too. I highly recommend the black cod.

Sunday, we all spent the morning at a lovely brunch and then looking at our Bay area bridal shower gifts (Bryan's parents had driven them down to us). I know, you couldn't be more excited reading about someone else's presents, right? Well, honestly sometimes there's nothing more exciting than looking at registry gifts. Especially for a bride. I'm not going to lie; it's really fun to get presents before your wedding. It's as if Christmas happens everyday and arrives in a giant Crate & Barrel or Bloomingdales box. I mean, when does that ever happen?

We debated what to do for Sunday and Monday. We had options: a bunch of friends were having barbecues and my family had rented a condo with friends in Palm Desert. It's a tradition in my family to go down to Palm Desert every Memorial Day weekend with two or three other families and enjoy the pool, golf and of course, Kobe's Japanese Steakhouse. However, my visits to Palm Desert over the past few years have been sporadic at best while Bryan had never been there at all. So, we jumped in the car and headed to the desert. We got there in no time flat and were able to spend a great night seeing everyone, catching up on old times and enjoying cold margaritas on an 80-degree evening. It was great. We drove home yesterday and, despite the traffic (even at 6pm), we were able to have a blast in the car. We have yet to determine our final music play list for our wedding (as you can imagine, Bryan is in 100% charge of music), so we went through Bryan's iPod and danced and sang our way through some great (and some terrible) songs. I even did the robot dance. While driving. The poor people in the cars next to us probably wondered what the heck we were doing, but I'm sure, deep down they were jealous. C'mon, who doesn't love the robot dance?

The weekend had to come to an end, but we decided that our fun didn't. This morning, before getting back into the radiation groove, we gave each other a few "good energy" high-fives. We're over the hump. Bryan's officially more than halfway to the goal line. Our countdown to June 12 (his last day or radiation and chemo) is officially on. And while our halftime show is over, we decided that we're going to be like our beloved USC football team: unstoppable in the fourth quarter. Fight on!

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