For Crying Out Loud

arriving just in time for rush hour commuting time. I caught the first train (only a one minute wait!) to Rachael's stop, giving her just enough time to meet me. And, when I came out of the station, there she was! So quick! We drove to her apartment, had a cup of tea to warm up and chatted. Who's "we", you ask? Rae, me and Jeanne Marie, a co-worker of Rachael's. She and her two kids joined us for the evening. Rae, Jeanne Marie and I walked down to a Russian grocery store, and then on to a local Greek restaurant, where Eric and Jeanne Marie's kids joined us. We had a lovely dinner, after which Eric and the little boy went home to play wii and 'the girls' stayed for dessert and tea.

Rae took me to my hotel room in Arlington. I slept, as one does in a hotel. The next morning I got ready, and realized that hair dryers in hotels are not as hot as 'real' ones. Great, so I had no control over my hair. Terrific. I didn't put on any make-up because . . . well, I sort of hoped that someone there would help me with that. When I was checking out of the hotel, I heard one guy talking about how maybe tomorrow the Federal government would shut down. For snow. I looked out the window . . . at nothing. No snow. No rain. Nothing. I asked why they thought there might be snow tomorrow. Well, it was cloudy. And cold. 32. Our tax dollars at work, folks.

But let's get to the important part. I went to the Evermay House in Georgetown where the filming was going to take place. I was met by Elyssa Rubin, with whom I had chatted over the phone. I asked her who was going to be interviewing me. (Ted Koppel?) No, she was. (I never even saw Ted Koppel.) Well, she wasn't wearing any make-up, so I figured I'd be okay. So then, she showed me into the room where the interview would be taking place. As we were settling into our chairs, I asked her if she was going to be on camera. No, never! She hated that side of the camera. (Great! So there I will be for all of America to see me, and maybe much of the world (yeah! the Discovery Channel hopes so) to see me with no make up on. Oh, well.)

Our interview lasted about 45 minutes. Then we broke for lunch. Egg salad on wheat. Pretty good! Next on the agenda was to record me reading from my blog entries. I had written these between September and December, so it's been a while. Not only didn't I actually remember what I was feeling when I wrote it, some of them didn't quite make sense to me. But never mind, I read them with feeling. Not enough, especially at first, so I read them again, and again, and again. . . You get the picture.

Leroy Seivers was next on the agenda. He arrived during this filming process and so waited outside the room. They filmed our meeting. I have been reading his blog for about 6 months now, I think, and commenting almost since the beginning. I can't quite remember when it started. So, in a way, I feel as though we have met, just not in person. He was just as I imagined. A big guy, 6'5, and likes to eat. Like me, he doesn't look sick, but he was hurting from his radio frequency ablation that had taken place the week before. He was very genial and we chatted about our cancers, our lives, while they got ready for him to read his part. I was lucky enough to be able to stay and watch for a while, but then I had to catch a cab to the airport for my flight home.

I slipped out and went upstairs to the bathroom to change into more comfortable clothes for the trip home. When I came down, Theresa Heinz (John Kerry's wife) had arrived to discuss with her florist the placement of floral arrangements for an upcoming event. When her gaze passed over my face, I suddenly felt like I was an unwelcome peice of lint on her mink coat. I mean, would it have cost this woman anything to smile? Yuck. I sure can't imagine her as our next first lady. And can't her people figure out where to put the flowers themselves? Either she doesn't have enough to do or she doesn't hire good people.

The rest was uneventful trip stuff. We got in around 8 and I was home by 9:30. I did get better details about the show itself. Discovery Channel. April 29 from 8pm to 11pm. I am sorry for the length of the show. You don't have to watch the whole thing. You don't have to watch any of it. But if you want to catch me, I'll be on between 8:30 and 9:30. And I don't think I will land on the cutting room floor after all. There were at least 2 other women who they talked to, but I am the only one they filmed.