5 things party invitations have taught me about my friends.

This year marks 5-years since my cancer diagnosis and I currently show no evidence of disease.

5 is a big number in cancer years.

My husband and I wanted to thank the people who supported us over the years and also to show our friends how much we appreciated them. (I assumed my family already know this!). I talked about the celebrations in my 8-month update.

Thank you to all who came and all who donated to the Breast Cancer Resource Center. If you have not donated, please consider doing so now.

But on to the invitations! 2 months have passed since the party, but I thought I would share a little bit about what the responses to my invitation taught me about my friends.

1. It's a culture thing. I think.

First of all, about me. (Isn't is always?) Growing up, if we received an invitation labelled "Mr. X" or "Mrs. Y" , then the invitation was not for anyone else but them. No partner/guest or child unless explicitly stated. If children were invited, it would read "...and Family". I found, to my chagrin, when I sent the invitations, many people found it ambiguous. I figured this was a cultural difference. I just did not realise there was room for interpretation. Now I know.

2. No Reply = "Maybe"

I saw that some people viewed the invitation, but did not yet respond. I assumed it was because they were not sure yet. Clearly there is a group of people who believe that by not replying, they are not saying "Yes" or "No", they are saying "Maybe", rather than ACTUALLY replying "Maybe". ...Oh, I get it.

3. The procrastinators

As in life, some folks delayed giving a response. Some people waited until the last minute - like they didn't want to commit themselves or they were not sure (see point 2. above). It was just interesting to me that there was a group who maybe wanted to come, but were unsure or it was too far in advance and did not want to commit? Why wouldn't they say 'Maybe' until they knew?

4. The "committers"

Unlike those who delayed, there were a group of people who signaled their intent right away. That is, if they did not already have a prior commitment, they replied right away and committed themselves to coming, bearing in mind that things could always change of course.

5. The Forgetfuls

Yep, as in all things, perhaps life just got in the way of my very important invitation and if you didn't reply right away, chances are you may have forgotten to reply. This may also be what happened in category 3. It's cool, I understand. Happens to me too, but then I make a list.

All in all, I had a terrific response rate to my invitation (80% !) but unfortunately not all the 'Yeses' were able to make it. No matter, I danced my feet off, celebrated my 5-years-and-counting, celebrated a milestone birthday with my friends and a good time (I hope) was had by all.

If you didn't get invited, I'll get you on my tea list, sorry about that!

Finally, my dancing shoes. I thought I'd last only about 15 minutes in them, but I did myself proud and wore them most of the night.

Follow me on Twitter @AustinTrini and Instagram @AustinTrini .

**This site uses cookies **

Week 20, Cycles 11,12 of 12: Not Happening

This week the oncologist felt that I had done enough chemo- I was not going to get Cycle 11 and Cycle 12. I've talked before about the effects of the chemo on my fingers, but you know it is a sad situation when you knot your pyjama bottoms and then can't untie it to go to the bathroom. No more chemotherapy for me. Yay? Yes, a bit of an anti-climax, but I still get to ring the "end-of-chemo" bell and get confetti thrown on me by my chemo nurses. My doctor also had in her hand the results of my post-chemotherapy MRI and it showed that there was a reduction in the tumour, it looked less dense than before and above all it looks like the volume of the tumour decreased by about 75%. Yay to that for sure! Considering I didn't feel that anything was changing I was very happy about the result. Next on my list: surgery. She said that although my blood counts are low in some areas, she felt that if I wanted to have surgery that day, I was well enough to do it. Me? We

Talking with Lucas on climate change

This is my post for Blog Action Day . This is an annual event where bloggers everywhere in the world post about the same issue on the same day to spark discussion around an issue of global importance. This is part of a conversation I had with my 8-year old. Mama : Do you know what climate change means? Lucas : I think it means when it is like 90F and it is hot. And the change? It's when in the daytime it might be 90F and sunny and hot, and then you go inside for dinner and then right after dinner and it might have dropped to 70F Well, yes it is that in a way. That describes what is happening in your area, but when people use the term "climate change" they really mean something more global, like affecting climate around the world Have you heard of the team "global warming"? What global warming is that it is made up of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and when they burn stuff the smoke releases CO2 and it's like a blanket covering the earth and if it k

Cancer by the numbers 2 of 4: That grocery bill

This is the second "Cancer by the Numbers" post, the first was about blood counts . We have been trying to eat organic fruits and vegetables as much as we can, to reduce the pesticide levels we injest. I will publish another post about cancer and food, but for now I thought I'd share the cost of organic vs not organic based on a quick poll of my local grocery (HEB). We had cut out meat prior to my diagnosis of cancer (ever since reading The China Study ) so perhaps the decline in spending in meat is offset by the more pricey organic items! The graph below shows the increase, as a percentage of the non-organic price, that I pay for common items that I buy. While the actual dollar amounts may not be significant individually, I can tell you that I really feel it on my grocery bill when I buy blueberries! If you feel you want to buy organic, but want to spend the dollars on those items where it makes a difference, take a look at the Environmental Working

Cancer Survivor, writing about Health and Fitness as you age

Search This Blog