This morning, I woke up and hopped in the shower. I walked into the kitchen, and started a pot of water to boil. I turned on the boob tube and started scooping coffee grinds into our French press. Our house is constantly divided between ESPN and the E! network...the only two news sources that people really need (kidding).
When the teapot started singing, I pressed and poured my morning sanity. I sat down on the couch with a huge smile...there it was...an old rerun of Sex In The City. A massive wave of nostalgia hit me. When I was in the ICU my friend Libbey brought a care crate (it was literally a huge crate of goodies). Among a billion other fun things, it included every season of Sex In The City, and the first movie.
When I was able to move to Laura's house for recovery, I couldn't handle much for sounds, and too much visual movement hurt my head. I tried watching an action movie with Danny at one point and I had to close my eyes and ask him to turn it off. It was weird. Anyway, I couldn't handle much for TV or movies, but I could easily handle Sex In The City. Jess Abu, Danny and I would curl up on Laura's couch eating red licorice at all hours of the day and night. We watched it during the odd times of the night when I had been woken by the alarm clock for pills. At that point I was ingesting 80 pills a day, with the shortest interval at every two hours.
Sex In The City made me feel like I had my girlfriends right there with me, and that I was alive. At that time, other than short walks around Laura's neighborhood, I didn't want to leave the house much. I was confused. My speech was slow and unclear, and my thought process was mud. I couldn't read at all, and I was only able to express myself with one syllable words. It probably sounds ridiculous, but Sex In The City helped me heal. I could follow the plot and story line. It made me laugh, cry, cringe, and get lost in another world.
When I saw the old rerun on my television a million memories from the past 9 months washed over me. Every memory from every photo. All of the laughter with my girl friends. The antics from my 30th birthday, shaving our heads, the walking marathon, the 10k, book club, the relay team, pedicure dates, summer barbecues, soccer, workouts...everything...all of the smiles, all of the love. I'm so grateful for the female friends in my life! They're all so wonderfully unique. Women have come out of the woodwork to support me while I deal with this tumor. Thanks ladies. You know when to smother me with kindness and make me laugh hysterically. I wouldn't be doing as well without you. Thank you. And cheers to Sex In The City, in all of its addicting madness, may we all find friends that feel like a perfect fit.
