more cake

In the keeping it real department, 40th bdays also come with an initial baseline mammogram. Given that one of my good friends was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer days prior to her 40th, I purposely saved my exam for after my blow-out weekend. I wasn't looking forward to it that is for sure, and woke up in the middle of last night unable to get back to sleep: What would I do, given my skepticsm of Western Medicine past diagnostics? How would I feel? Sober thoughts, without clear answers, and very, very grounding. As was the exam, a little more jarring than I expected. I'll take another tattoo any day. Major kudos to Patricia the tech, who was quick and funny, and who I loved that much more when she said, "you look fine," and sent me on my way.
Now that's cake, and I've had nothing but a glut of riches this week to compare such news against. I got home Sunday night after a day which included a North Beach lunch with my brother and Aunt and a birthday massage at Therepeia to find a pristine Miette Scharffen Berger Cake on my doorstep from one of my neighbors; last night, post rehearsal & yoga Hotel Biron toasts came with a belated bday gift of cookies. Thank god for perfectly done ganache on the former that kept me from digging in early and the fact of friends to share the riches with. The Miette confection went to my chanting crew on Monday--one sliver of chocolate at 9:30a.m. is better than a week alone with an entire cake. The cookies are with my colleagues.