Today was a good day! November 19, 2012

My Monday started with a training session to teach a woman in the PR business how to do Social Media properly. It was really well and she really started to grasp the little nuances in Social Media that most don’t even bother to learn. I’m pretty sure we are meeting again next week.

Then, I got a massage. I’ve had a couple of extremely stressful weeks and needed it badly. My shoulders were like rocks and I could barely turn my head the other day. Ugh! But, Vince took care of me and I felt amazing when I left.

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at a High School in North Scottsdale. My friend Kerstin teaches there. I spoke there a month after my surgery, too. They moved to a beautiful new campus and I was excited to see the kids. I sometimes miss teaching. (I taught Middle/High School for 6 years.)

This group of kids is in a pre-med club. They are REALLY good kids, too. They had asked ahead of time about equipment I would be needing, and everything was set up for me. I had some pictures on my laptop I wanted to show, but I prefer talking and attempting to draw the human anatomy by myself on a whiteboard. It’s pretty funny seeing me try NOT to be inappropriate. The kids always get a kick out of it, too. I think that’s why I was such a good teacher: humor.

Many of the students asked questions after I was done presenting. It was really cool how interested they were in it! Later that day, I got a text from Kerstin, telling me one kid was already thinking about it.

Today, I got a thank you card in the mail. I had a really great day today, and it was just the topping of the cake. Some of the kids signed it, and some are even thinking about donating. I cried. I know that if I had known I could do this decades ago, I would have done it. Just knowing that I got 20 kids to think about it, makes it easier to go through all the emotions.

Our story remains very emotional for me, and it’s been almost two years since I agreed to begin testing. I still relive a lot of it, because I’m always asked to talk about it. I’m glad to, but sometimes I have to leave parts out. My experience was very unique, because I also lost my job and had a lot of publicity to deal with. It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure!

So, keep talking about what you’re passionate about. You never know who you could inspire.

The week from Hell, but then I realized… November 10, 2012

…that, in the end, I have it pretty good.

Last weekend, I learned that a friend had died. I just happened to see a friend comment on a Facebook status, of someone who’s not even on my friends list, sympathy for a mutual friend’s death. When I saw his name, my heart sank. I immediately jumped over to his Facebook page and just burst into tears. We weren’t as close as he was with some people, but we fucked around a lot on Facebook chat for a couple of years. He was beautiful, behind and in front of the camera. My heart broke. I’ve been pretty stressed out for a couple of weeks, so I’m sure that contributed to the fountain of tears. It just really sucked. It’s my “Downtown Circle,” a group of my friends who are all in the CenPho/Downtown area. It’s a cool group of people – no, wait – it’s the COOLEST group of people in my life.

Later in the week, I had some really cool things planned. I was to present at Fascinations, which had been planned for months. It was something fun and different to do, especially since I haven’t done comedy in at least a month. I’m putting a ton of energy into my business and the documentary. Comedy will always be there for me, so it’s ok to set it aside until I can really put time into writing again. I also had a presentation set up for a high school in North Scottsdale. I spoke there last year, right after my surgery, and I was so excited to go again. It reminds me of teaching, which I sometimes miss. Sometimes.

But, in the middle of the week, I got slammed really hard financially. It was bad enough that I had to call my parents for help. Now, I’m the oldest and the most independent of us. I had to learn responsibility at a really young age. I think that has a lot to do with me being single for so long: I lived my life FOR others for a very long time. It’s not a bad thing, but I was always some sort of caretaker, up until my marriage ended ten years ago. Anyway, I had 36 hours of Hell to deal with. HELL. I didn’t sleep for 2 nights. I could barely work. I ate very poorly. I was a wreck. A. Hot. Mess. If it weren’t for my parents and my neighbors, Will and Jada, I don’t know what I would have done. I really, truly, don’t.

I also had the Mayo Clinic Transplant Reunion today. They are very emotional for me. Today’s was really nice, but I cried three times. I saw a woman who I met at my last testing appointment before donating my kidney. Turns out, her surgery was scheduled to be 2 hours before mine. We donated 18 months ago and still text occasionally. It was great to see her and her recipient, who I hadn’t met before. Then I got a tweet from Rebecca. She started to follow me on Twitter after seeing me on the news (the first time), and donated 6 months ago.

She donated her kidney because of me. I was there the morning of her surgery. I spent hours with her family, just to be there to answer questions and show support. They are a great bunch of people and now I will have them in my life forever. Rebecca is my kidney sister!

I got to spend time with both my parents (FabParents) and TinyParents. It was awesome and I’m glad I got to see my Mom, who got me through this week.

I got home and planted my ass on the couch. My friend Kerstin brought me one of her cheesecakes. She’s won awards for them. They were going to give me a gift card for speaking at the high school, but I told her I’d rather have one of her cheesecakes. This is the second time she’s set me up to speak at the school where she teachers. She and her husband are really great people! I knew Jada loved cheesecake, and I knew they would be gone all day, so I used the key they gave me to sneak a huge piece of cheesecake in their refrigerator. I slid the plate on top of the Fry’s cheesecake that was already in there.

And that’s when I realized that I’ve got the best people in my life. All because of that hunk of cheesecake.