2005 ROCK-TOBER CHEMO GIRLS

cathy987

Brenda and
Paula have arrived and are checked in.

Michelle due in at 10:30 this morning.

Breakfast rendezvous at 9:30

ravdeb

Cathy..thanks for the update.

Gail..have a safe trip but I guess you are gone already.

The weather here is bad in Chicago but is not raining presently. Hopefully as I head out to the train it will still not be raining. Was downtown last night and got drenched. Weather on Sat should be okay.

If I have travel problems, I'll call somebody to report in. Trains are delayed. This is not the problem. I had a full blown asthma attack yesterday and am hoping I'll be okay.

See you all soon!

RoseMarie

Hey...Count down for me...BUT Mike just called and said he was JUST leaving (UGH!) so it'll be at least 30 minutes before we leave.....

TracyNY

I hope everyone is having a good time in Chicago. I had to cancel because my ex who was there constantly during my diagnosis, surgery, and recovery lost his mother on 8/16 and the funeral was yesterday. It cost me over half of the ticket price to cancel the flight but I had to be there for him as he has been for me. I got back from South Jersey last night and am dog tired from all the doings.

I hope we can see photos by Tuesday at the latest!

Anonymous

Tracy, I am so sorry about his mom. It was kind of you to be there for him and for her. I am sure you were the kind of daughter in law that she loved having around. What a nice relationship your ex and you seem to have now. I wish you my condolences and my prayers.

I did hear from the girls and they said they are having a blast. The kids all seem to think they've known each other for ever and have all had a great time. They are already planning for a 5 year fest!

Anonymous

This year, my little girl is signing up as part of the team, she wanted the shirt and goodie bag!
Miss Muffet's Komen Walk page

Anonymous

...well not all of us yet. But soon!

This has been the most incredible 4 days of my life!

OMG - I don't know where to begin! Hard to imagine LauraGTO not knowing what to "say".

We had an incredible time! But...it was so unbelievably difficult to say goodbye! I got really emotional while driving home from the airport...I still have a lump in my throat and I'm emotionally exhausted, so I'm going to lie down and take a nap and will write more later, but I wanted to touch base here and ask you all to pray that each Rocktober girl arrives at her final destination safely.

I truly adore each and every Rocktober Girl...more than I ever imagined possible!

OH MY!...

Phone just rang...It's Paula - her flight was canceled...I will go pick her up at the airport and she can stay here until the morning...we'll both check in here later...

Paula15089

lol guess where i am posting from!! Laura's house!!
its so nice i think i prefer this to hawaii..

we are having ribs for dinner!! that her lovely husband is apparently famous for.

my next flight is at 10am tomorrow morning, so we will have an early start (poor Laura). So thanks so much to our beautiful host!! i am grateful beyond words.

ok i better go down to the kitchen for a snack..
talk later!
xx

ravdeb

Oh Paula...sorry you missed your flight!
I missed my train. Not the one from Deerfield but the one from Chicago to Oak Park. I got to the track as it was departing!
BUT..you will not believe THIS...I had a long time to wait and I sat on the floor against the wall with my bags and guess who walked by me...ALEX..Paula's long lost cousin that we all met yesterday! This was so weird. The station was pretty empty but there he was!
What a cutie...we talked and my girlfriend called me on the cell I was carrying and she told me she'd come and pick me up. Alex stayed with me til she came. He is GORGEOUS and we had such a nice visit together, learning about each other.

It was a superb weekend. I love you all and only wish that all those who couldn't be there had been there. We will do this again and you WILL ALL COME!

I hope everybody returned home safely. Paula..have a safe trip and have fun in Hawaii!

chumfry

Joel and I are safe back home. I had a great time, but am now in zombie land. (Which is the usual for my post-chemo Sundays.) I'm heading to bed. Love you all!

marymelodi

Checking in . . . I am home safely, but so-o-o tired now. Like Laura, I am emotionally exhausted as well as physically tired. Everyone is who you imagined they would be, only so much richer in my heart now. I will long remember Michele's laugh, Cindy's courage and positive attitude, Debbie's delightful voice and sense of humor, RavDeb's calm and peaceful spirit, Tracy's thoughtfulness and adventurousness, Brenda's beauty of heart and lovely hair, Paula's smile and love of family, Cathy's stories and good sense, Mary-Anne's wicked humor and enjoyment of life, Graycie being such a good sport, RoseMarie's beauty and infinite patience (or so it seemed to me) and Laura's energy, kindness, and for being the "hostess with the mostest." The husbands and children were all so great and those kids now have manymore "aunties" who care about them. Brenda said on the first day, "this is like being in a dream." It was a real dream come true.

Good night, sweet dreams, and safe journeys to everyone,
Mary

maryannecb

Count me back too. I was able to catch an earlier connector so got home 2 hours earlier. All is well on the home front.

Thanks to all of you for a great trip. I am emotionally recharged and will go to work this week with a huge smile and lots of good stories.

Cindy, I hope you have a better day tomorrow. It was great to meet you and your DH. Mary,keep smiling and get some sleep. Deb, your rendezvous with Paul's cousin is a strange happening in so large a place. Laura...THANK YOU. Paula, lucky you to have one more day(none of my kids wanted the kanga purse...). Tracy, are you home yet. I hope Dave has a nice meal ready for you. Rosemarie, Kiersten is a beautiful child and doing really well. I hope she got the picure I sent. Brenda, we NEED to meet again. Cathy, take care driving home, what a nice GM you make(imagine your GD bragging to her friends how cool you are). Debbie and Roger, hope the rest of your trip is as action packed, not hard to tell you are enjoying things so far.Say Hi to Kiki for me Graycie.Nothing like sisters.

To the others, we missed you but... start planning for our 5 year mark.

Fists up!

scottishlass

Quick message,
Am so glad that you all had such a fab time. Can't wait to see the photos.
All the best
Jill

ake

I want to see photos too! Thanks for the message from you all on my cell...it made me smile so big Glad you all got together and returned safely!

RoseMarie

Checking in too...it took 2 hours to leave Chicago (took us an hour and a half to travel the first 10 miles - Thank God for Nintendo!!!) BUT the rest of the trip was fine - got home late so I'm letting the kids sleep as late as possible!!

WOW! What an amazing weekend!! And where did the time go???!!!

Btw, Thanks Mary Anne!! She hasn't seen the pic yet but I got it! You are very sweet! (You know I worry!!) And I have to agree with Mary, you are FUNNY!!!!

Will post more later but I've got to have some coffee!!!

Love all of you!!!!! So cool....

ravdeb

Mornin' Ladies...
I hope that Paula gets off today for her trip to Hawaii!
Amy and Jill, V, Linda,Tracy,Kelly...next time you all must join us!
I showed the pics to my girlfriend I'm staying with and she got to hear all the stories!
Have a good day everybody!
I can't post pictures til I get home.....

TracySeattle

Hi Everyone - I'm Home!!!

Plane problems in Chicago and they shuffled me around a bit - first I was arriving much later (10:30pm), then they found a direct flight to Seattle on Alaska Air which actually got me to Seattle earlier than I was originally going to arrive..... that surprise was short lived as I waited in the line to report that my Bag didn't make it.

Now I am frantic because that bag had all of my Rocktober goodies in it!!!! I sure hope they find it!!!

It was late when I got home (well, not that late but 10pm) so we did a quick drive thru Mickey D's for a burger and then I was off to bed!

Gotta get to work, I sure hope I get my computer back tonight so that I can check back in and find us a good spot to post our pictures!

Stay tuned ladies - pictures coming very soon!

We missed all of you that weren't there.... I feel such a connection to everyone now - WE ARE REAL!!!! LOL!! and our Faces really move!!!

Love you all!

Anonymous

Glad you all had such a good time.

So, 2010 -- that's our 5 year mark.

Tracy, Photobucket is a great spot to upload photos and it will let you link to other sites in case you want to post a pic here from there.

Anonymous

I'd like to publicly thank Laura for her hospitality. Laura, you are a fantastic hostess! And that little assistant of yours, Ms. Shelby, wasn't so bad either. I'd like to say again that you and your husband look so much younger than the first time we met! How cool is that?

Glad to hear that almost everyone is home safely. I have so many things to say, but I literally do not have the time to do it. Before I close though, there's one important thing I need to state: I was changed by this trip. You've always been important to me, but you have no idea how much more precious you are, after Rocktoberfest 2007.

RoseMarie

Yes, thank you so much Laura!!!!! Brenda, you're so right -it was so incredible to meet in person - just amazing.

I know we're going to be posting to an album but I wanted to go ahead and just post this pic

ake

so jealous! you ladies look fantastic! i will be there next time...hopefully skinny enough to wear a leopard bikini...woo woo

marymelodi

I've been wandering around my house today feeling so lonely without my Rocktober sisters. We never ran out of things to say and there was such a feeling of unity and closeness. I miss everyone. I also want to add my "Thanks!" to Laura, Roy, Laura's mom, and Miss Shelby, Girl-Super-Spy. I just love families that are close and supportive as you all are.

Hope everyone has arrived, Paula & Cathy, by now.

Cindy, hope you are not too wrung out by our adventures together. Get lots of rest. I've been napping on and off all day.

Mary

chumfry

I'm doing pretty good. I slept 12 straight hours. Got up and had a bowl of cereal and then went back to bed for another four hours. That's what I usually do on the Sundays after chemo, so I'm just a day behind.

The pink boxing gloves (handed down to me from MaryAnne) made the trip fine. When I told my mom about them, she cried. (So did I.) I'm sending her a copy of our group photo.

Anonymous

Cindy, you keep up your spirit and keep your gloves on!! Glad you are resting.

Curlylocks

Good Evening My Sisters,

I was sad to leave everyone yesterday, had a great, great weekend and it went so fast! I am exhausted tonight from the emotional letdown after saying goodbye to everyone and staying up way past my normal bedtime the whole weekend including last night.

My flight was delayed 2 hours and didnt get through customs, etc until 9:45 pm. I will never fly United again....

Laura--thank you for being a wonderful host and for your warm hospitality. I would like to especially thank your mom, Jan Clare and your sweet neice Shelby for organizing and setting everything up. Thanks to your dh for cooking the hotdogs and putting up with us.LOL.

The ride in the "goat" was the highlight of the trip aside from getting to spend a fantastic weekend in Chicago with all my sisters.

It was like being in a dream getting to meet all my sisters in person and as Maryanne says "we have faces and they move".LOL.

Navy Pier was alot of fun and we couldnt have had a better day for it.

Cindy - you are a real trooper having made the trip the same day of treatment. Thankfully the steriods had you wired so that we could all spend a good portion of the trip together.
Countdown to final treatment...4 days...you go girl!!

To all my International roomies - it was fun, never thought 4 people could share such a small room and we didnt get on each other's nerves...at least I didnt think we did. Except maybe I did....Brenda --- truth---did I really snore like an "18 wheeler"? Brenda - you are an elegant and funny lady and alot of fun to be around. As I told you I thought you would be shy and quiet.LOL. Paula - you are as I imagined you -- full of life, sweet and love your accent. I will smile each time I think of your accent! Deb - you are a kind and gentle soul and so soft spoken. I plan on straightening out your poem so that I can frame it along with the shell.

Kelly - it was nice talking to you on the phone on Saturday, your life sounds extremely busy and I hope you are able to get another job so that you can have more time for you and your daughter!

Amy - Sorry you were not home when you called us, we were all just yelling into the phone....

TracyNy - we had a few good one liners that you would have loved, sorry you were not able to make it...

I have so many pictures that I will post later but thought I would post a few tonight.

Have a great evening....ah....I get to sleep in my own bed tonight!

Love Michele

Anonymous

Laura, is that bar in your house? Oooo La La !!

I am enjoying the pictures!!

ake

everyone has such curly hair! where the hell are my curls?

TracySeattle

Amy - I don't have curls either and was wondering the same thing!!!

These pics brought tears to my eyes - what a very special time and you are all very special ladies. I feel so lucky to have found all of you. Amy, Kelly, Tracy, Victoria, Linny & Jill - we really missed you and we talked about how we wished you where there.... Next time - we are planning for our 5 year from diagnosis mark - 2010!!!! Start saving your pennies!!!!

My computer is still at the shop, so seeing the pictures here is great - I can't wait to print them out and put them where I can see them all the time!!!

Someone mentioned the one-liners, here are a few that I can remember (and actually put into print -- LOL (Brenda!).

"You look just like your picture only your face moves!" Mary-Anne

"OH CRAP!" Cathy (She was driving to Laura's and we got lost)

"COW!!!!, COW - NOW!!!!" Quote from a very hungry and steroid-ridden Cindy. She calmed right down after her meal of cow.... LOL!!!

"I lost my boob in the parking lot!!!" -- Laura

"Rocktober Children!! Come here!!!" --Mary (or should I say Auntie Mary LOL!!!

Oh and did we mention that we just about got thrown out of the hotel at our PJ party on Friday night??? The hotel was full of middle school age kids for a soccer tournament and someone decides to complain about the Old (well not all of us were old) women having a party!!!

It was fun.... Lots of great memories and pictures. I have not had such an experience before.....

Love you all - have a great day!

nowheregirl

Hey I know I am not a part of Rocktober sisters but you have no idea how long I have waited to see those lovely faces all together! It certainly doesn't look like you all met for the first time. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing!

I will also be having a mini get together in October. A good friend of mine who I met on these boards is coming over here for holidays! Ovbiously I have never met anyone from BCO as I'm probably the only one who lives in Japan. So this is going to be super exciting. I just can't wait!!!

Hugs,

cathy987

Just checking in quickly to say I got back home last night near midnight. Trying to catch up at office.

Love the pictures--haven't even looked at mine yet--had the most wonderful weekend with you all and will post more later.