Today is Thursday, the 21st

I'm thinking about October and the significance it's had in our lives... Halloween 1970 was the scene of a crazy costume party at Tina & Greg's in Mt. View.  My first Halloween in California and it came with a scavenger hunt.  Each team was tasked with a list of insane items which enticed us to go all over Mt. View to check off the most items on the list and win the prize.  I was just getting my sea legs and dressed as a gypsy.  I felt free.  I met several of what would become my new enhanced family that night...  I recall walking up to a shy young man and saying "Hi, I'm Anne Marie."  Gary Reed and I have been dear friends ever since.  Fast forward to 1993.  It's a full moon and Michael is hosting a party at his home in San Jose.  I had gone costume shopping with Deb & Di and found a wig...inspiration!  I went home to Los Gatos, got out my leather shorts, gold lame top, belt, black seamed stockings, CFM stilettos, a little bit of light brown foundation, big lips, even larger eyes and my microphone and ta da... Tina Turner appeared singing "What's Love Got to Do With it?"  Jayne, Andre', Carla, little Lea, Michael, Gary Whitney, Deb, Di, Diana and my beloved Cenz in gorgeous drag...we're all in costume, ready to rock out!  

Lea, me, Di, Jayne

Cenz in drag

Diana mentions that her brother, Sam & Mike Detrich, are hosting a party at their home with 2 bands.... we all pile into cars and traipse up Soda Springs Rd.  to the top of the mountain above Lexington Reservoir... what a picture...full moon...beautiful clear evening... so many cars we have to park and continue on foot; not easy in stilettos...but Cenz shows me his sexy stroll and we laugh all the way to the top.  We make THE entrance... Cenz is in front of me and I can see the men's reaction... from the back .... he's this curvy brunette in a full length blue silk gown and heels strutting his stuff...from the front his huge blue eyes, handle bar mustache and hairy chest complete the picture ... The first band is playing their last song... 'Rockin in a Free World' and the party is on!!!  They've put a floor over the pool for dancing and we're loving it!!!  Suddenly, the song is over and Popeye puts down his bass and comes off the stage... He's very tall with a goatee & mustache, corn cob pipe, sailor shirt, bell bottoms & yachting cap with these massive arms and a smooth deep voice and a gentle, fun loving spirit.... Tracy & I dance a few... he asks me out for lunch...  I say yes but leave without giving him my number....   For 2.5 weeks Popeye calls Gary Whitney for my number.... Finally, Gary asks me if I want to give my number to him and Tracy calls..." Hi I'm Popeye"... we enjoy talking and set a date for lunch on Sat. but having given up my addiction to cigarettes in Dec. '90... one of the hardest things I've ever done... I'm reluctant to date a smoker and Tracy smoked.  So, after trying to break the date;  Tracy said, "I've been looking for a good reason to quit"... and he did.  We met at the Crab Shack in Saratoga... he met me at the door with a single red rose... we married Nov. 24th, 1995... 

Fast forward to Oct. 1999... Tracy has  totally remodeled our loving home in Los Gatos.  I'm a head hunter again, executive recruiter and HR consultant to fast paced Silicon Valley start ups & such.  We're having the time of our lives... we've traveled that year for a romantic stay in Venice and Paris; to my nephew, Shawn's graduation from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York; the after party at my bro's home in Cotuit on Cape Cod; a visit to Toni, Tracy's sis in Fredricksburg, Maryland; Gary & Deb's wedding in Conn.;  Tracy's niece, Maren's graduation from law school in San Antonio...and on any given weekend we'd take our dogs, Max and Spec, to Scott's Creek just north of Davenport... we loved the brackish water and the ocean.... I remember noticing that Tracy had an open cut on his leg.... which Tracy dismissed.   We had a glorious day in the sun snd surf and by Sunday, Spec was ill....Tracy wasn't feeling great but he ignored it.  Within 3 days,  Tracy spiked a fever of 102.9 and wasn't able to eat or keep anything down....for the first time in my life, I called our GP in the middle of the night.  Dr. Gregory told me to give him aspirin to get his fever down and then, meet him at the emergency room at Los Gatos Community Hospital.  That odyssey ended 25 days later when Tracy was finally released from Good Samaritan Hospital with a diagnosis of lymphoma and an unknown virus that had been named for Tracy...  that's a long twisted tale.. too long for me to relate now...

Fast forward to today and how this October has unfolded. Tracy had a good day yesterday.  He was infused many times but we took walks and were entertained in the atrium for an hour by the Frisky Frolics, Tin Pan Alley-era classics with a ukelele-driven singer, slide guitar, hollow body rhythm guitar and stand up base ... Tracy loved it!!!!  Food for the soul.  Tracy was very tired so, when my broker called with a listing opportunity in Sunnyvale, I left.  Tracy was being cared for by Royce, a new dad, and I knew he was in good hands.  Yesterday was the sixth day.  The sixth and the twenty-second days are the days of the most toxic hell shots.  T was scheduled to receive 3 shots in the stomach at 5:00PM.  Thank God for the  Giants and the distraction...  We spoke twice last night... he's holding steady... I just spoke with him.  He said "If this is the nadir, I can do this!!!"  Thank God!!!