Fall 2009

The leaves are turning glorious shades of burgundy and gold. The air smells like campfire as the evenings grow cool and our neighbors stoke their fireplaces. Pumpkins and mums are everywhere - yes, fall has arrived to Northern NJ.

The past few weeks have been packed full of great events but the beauty of the season dimmed recently when the world lost another 41 year old woman to the beast that is breast cancer. Kate was a pharmacist who worked with me. I never had the privilege to meet her personally, but met so many folks who did; each of whom smiled when they spoke of her, I felt I knew her. Kate was diagnosed late in the game, stage 4. She fought a good fight and leaves behind a husband, two children and a cadre of co-workers who will never be the same.

Greg and I have been so fortunate: we spent Saturday night with friends and family at Giants Stadium seeing The Boss. Sunday was our 6th anniversary. We had a wonderful lunch outside at Vento in NYC, walked the Highline, and capped the evening having champagne with friends.

Last weekend we were in Vancouver, an incredible city. We did the zip lines down Grouse Mountain, drove out to Whistler and took the Peak 2 Peak gondola ride. Oh yeah, we also spent two days on the set of this little film - "Eclipse". Yes, THAT Eclipse, the 3rd in the Twilight series. Film making is an interesting thing, I think I found watching security flush out the paparazzi from the trees more entertaining than take after take of the same scene. I will admit those vampires are quite pretty....

We returned to NJ in time for the opening night reception of "The Faces of Breast Cancer" exhibit at the Morris Museum. It was somewhat surreal to see two photos of me hanging there; the show itself is wonderful and literally took me breath away. As I looked at the photos of so many survivors, I was reminded of how I felt a mere year ago as I approached the end of my chemo treatment, of how I looked (bald) and how thankful I was to be alive.

In this vein, fall also brings a plethora of pink as October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Have you had your mammogram yet?