Ten Things in September and October

Well, September and October just slipped right past me! To catch up, here are ten things that happened.

1. I had my first followup appointment with my oncologist in late September. The verdict? I'm in complete remission! I tell you, when your oncologist walks into the exam room with a big smile on her face, you can be pretty sure that it's good news. My blood work was good and my CT scan showed no enlarged lymph nodes. Let's hope it lasts a nice long time.
2. I started walking again. In the last few months since my last chemo treatment, I noticed that I had something like... energy! One of my tech comm friends started a 45-day mindfulness group. It's based on the neuroscience theory that it takes 45 days to carve a new neural pathway in your brain and thus form a new habit. In my case, it's more like sweeping off that pathway. I committed to walking at least a mile on at least three days a week. So far, so good!
3. Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as a Supreme Court justice. Ugh. This event triggered a lot of emotion in me - anger, sorrow, fear - and also made me think a lot about privilege. I'm still thinking through that.
4. I had gum surgery. Apparently I had a very deep pocket in my gum, so the periodontist fixed it - we hope. He's optimistic, which is a trait that I like in a periodontist.
5. We saw John Pizzarelli with Catherine Russell at the first concert in our yearly subscription to the Lively Arts series at the local community college. It was fabulous! Pizzarelli performed songs from the Frank Sinatra songbook, and Catherine Russell sang a selection of Billie Holiday songs. You should check them out!
6. We also saw the Capitol Steps and laughed our asses off! This year's show is called Orange is the New Barack. The humor was biting and hilarious and nonpartisan (mostly).
7. SonnyeBoy celebrated his 37th birthday - coincidentally, it's the 37th anniversary of the day I almost DIED.
8. Some idiot ignored the very clear sign about the clearance in our garage, drove in anyway, and broke the sprinkler pipe. This triggered the fire alarm, so we all had to evacuate until the fire department came. This fun event occurred at 11:00 at night. Of course it did.
9. We attended a memorial service for the brother of Joe's good friend. It was a lovely service, though sad. It's a sign of our ages that we seem to see old friends at funerals and memorials. So it goes.
10. I had one more thing I was going to mention, but I've forgotten what it was.