What was really cute and cool was that I don't think my mother had any clue about why we were at the dinner, even though I tried telling her it was because I was being honoured. I don't think I could even describe it in Vietnamese if I knew the words. Usually, in Vietnamese culture, young people just aren't honoured in that type of way. So my mom couldn't fathom it. Imagine her confusion when all these people started getting up and staying all these nice (and otherwise) things about me! My favourite moment was when I stood up to thank everyone, and I mentioned that my parents were in the audience, and how special that was to me. My mom stood up, smiled, and pageant-waved to everyone there (there were over 100 people in attendance)! She was so proud. It was really cute. Here are some highlights:
[This is the dinner menu. The organization made colour, laminated copies for me and my parents.]
[My students worked together on a secret project, a surprise for me: a book of recipes from our Iron Chef-style "Yam-Off" competition between the two workshops.]
[Another surprise: a little illustration of how I whipped them into shape.]
[This picture was taken by Roy Mah. Here's I'm accepting a gorgeous bouquet. Check out the hair I grew just for the occasion!]
In addition, I got a real treat when author Wayson Choy introduced himself to me at the dinner. A few days later, Henry and I went to a reading that Wayson gave, and he was just as gracious and inspiring there as he was at the dinner. Inspiration is what I really need right now.
This Wednesday also happened to mark Henry's birthday. March has always been the month of birthdays in our family, including our niece's, our brother-in-law's, and finally, Henry's brother George. The Monday before Henry's birthday, we went out to Fortune restaurant to celebrate, and we were treated to Alaskan king crab (I think this one was a 12-pounder) by Henry's parents:
On Wednesday, Henry and I attended the International formal dinner at St. John's College at UBC. For the past two academic years, Henry has been doing a wonderful job as Associate Principal there, organizing a ton of great events and talks there. So we get the honour of being invited to the formal dinners. Since the dinner just happened to be the same date as Henry's birthday, everyone sang Happy Birthday to him and several graduate students stood up and wished in happy birthday in various languages. I was so proud to be his wife at that moment--and a little tipsy from the wine--that when he stood up, I also stood up to give him a kiss in front of everyone. Little did I know that as I stood up, my chair fell backwards because my bag that was hanging on the back of it was so heavy. When I went to sit back down, the chair was no longer there, and I fell right on my ass on the floor in front of everyone! I just laughed, but I think that the office staff, who were sitting at my table, were horrified and embarrassed for me. So dear Amy said, "No one saw. I flashed them to distract them." I was like, "It's okay." Yeah, so I ate it. Oh well. No one ever accused me of being graceful!
The funs times are good and much needed. To be honest, there's an imbalance of fun times and darkness--though I believe that even if I had fun 20 hours out of the day, there would still be that imbalance, heavy on the negative. It's exactly one month until my surgery. On Wednesday, I had a CT scan in my chest, abdomen, and pelvic region, for re-staging my cancer. That basically means they want to see what exists in those regions (if there are any metastases, any shrinkages). I see my oncologist on Tuesday for the results. Yesterday, Henry and I went to St. Paul's hospital for a pre-surgery education clinic, when we met with a nurse who told us what to expect on the day of and the days after following surgery, and we met with an anesthetist who explained the "going under" process. And then there was more blood-work (I used to be a champ when it came to needles, but ever since my vein has hardened from the chemo, it's become a little bit more uncomfortable). The reality that the surgery is only a month away is a shock. And this period of waiting--and getting more tests done to determine my health situation--places me back at square one. I kinda feel like I did back in July when I was first diagnosed, and I would wake up every morning for the first few weeks and realize with a shock, "I have cancer."
The timing of all this couldn't be any weirder to me either. It was just five days after Henry's brother died of lung cancer that I was diagnosed. Now, next week--which will be three weeks before my surgery--we will be going to his brother's interment in Los Angeles. It will be a quiet private ceremony, which we and Henry's sister will attend.
Going to LA also means seeing friends and getting some sunshine, so the trip will be bittersweet, as life in general mostly seems to be right now.
I have a lot of fear--but I have much to hope for too. As Wayson Choy said at his reading, "I want to see what happens tomorrow."
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