27 years and counting....

Lots of fun this past week: a wonderful bike ride with new TEAMSurvivor friends; paddling practice on the Yahara River; a great party, co-hosted with good friends, to celebrate various people's retirements, pending retirements, and/or resistance to retirement. The last guests left after midnight--and I was sorry to see them go! Who says "seniors" (I guess that's who we are, now) can't party hearty?

And best of all, a meeting with the marketing department at UW Press, where we were encouraged to bring out Facing Fear this fall, instead of next spring. The official publication date will be December 15, but we hope to have books in hand by the time of the Wisconsin Book Festival in mid-October. Of course, this depends on the production process moving smoothly and swiftly, but we have reason to believe that it will. I'll keep you posted!

But what's really been on my mind the past week is my younger son's impending Big Birthday. He'll turn 30 next Sunday. This means I will no longer be able to trust either of my sons. (Those of us who came of age in the '60s understand that we can't trust anyone over 30--ourselves excluded.) But seriously--and much more important--it means that despite having had two cancers, I've seen both my sons into their thirties. They were only 3 and 6 years old when I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 1981. I didn't spend a lot of time worrying that I wouldn't live to see them grow up--but I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind. So here I am, 27 years later, and here they are, all grown up (and then some). Amazing. I feel very lucky. And as I've said before, it's a lot easier for me to cope with the stomach cancer, which was likely caused by the radiation treatments for the Hodgkin's, knowing that the radiation also made it possible for me to raise my sons.

So Nate may be worried about getting old (though he told me the last party he and Meghan hosted didn't break up until 6 AM, so he couldn't be feeling too old!) But I'm thrilled that he's turning 30, and that I'm around to see it happen.