Friday night basketball

Last night was the big showdown between the 2 major high schools in Ann Arbor for both the men's and women's basketball teams so Steve and I decided to go. Last year's women's team had only 4 seniors (including the lovely Ms. Naomi) so essentially the team is the same and we know the girls well. They are fun to watch though I really miss not seeing my girl play. She was so good.....

She was there too teetering on 4 inch heels as Dontae's relative was on the Pioneer men's team showing no signs of her 4 month pregnancy. The ugly brown dye is slowly fading so her redhair is more evident. She looks striking and I could see her from a distance happily chatting with all her acquaintances probably bragging about her baby boy (keep warning her that 65% is not the same as 100%). Some day reality will set in and it won't be pretty. I cringe when people ask about her not knowing what they know. Another past senior was there with her parents, a girl I've know since she was 6; the other redhead of the past team. She is doing great in all respects. Too much contrast for me.

Earlier in the day, Naomi had lunch with Julia, my daughter-in-law. She had been avoiding my son as he is prone to lecturing and voicing his disapproval. She was afraid that Julia would do it for him but she was relieved to find out that Julia just listened.

I had lunch earlier with a good friend taking advantage of Ann Arbor's restaurant week. Our top choice was too crowded so we ended up in Gratzi's for their prix fixe lunch. A nice seat on their balcony overlooking main street. I had their spumoni for dessert. Strangely I have never seen spumoni in any of the many gelato shops in Italy that I visited (and there were many). The best spumoni is at the Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn. A certain family member has been known to polish off a quart of it at a time. This stuff I had here paled by comparison.

I found 61 cents while running yesterday. Oooo..I'm rich. Today it will be the first time I will be running above freezing in the longest time. Can't wait for winter to be over.

The place was packed with mainly Huron fans even though it was at Pioneer and their school is 30% bigger. Both Huron teams won by a huge margin though many of the fans went home after the men's game. Girls just don't get the respect. Last year the Pioneer's coach came up to me during the fundraising game for LiveStrong and hugged me. I was in the middle of chemo. She had been treated for leimyosarcoma, which is cancer of the involuntary muscles. In her case, it was in her uterine walls (most uterine cancer is in the lining). At that point, she hadn't needed chemo but judging from her cap she was wearing last night, I think that has changed. They were holding a fundraiser in her name.

A former soccer teammate of Josh's sat with us for the men's game. He now is a teacher at Huron and was Naomi's soccer coach. I first met him on our driveway when he was 11 shooting hoops early in the morning. I had judged him to be 6 though he was extremely adept at basketball. He kept up his routine on the way to middle school for 3 years as long as the weather was good keeping his ball jammed into one of our yews. I found out later during that same time, his mom was dying of cancer. Once he hit high school, he became large for his age vs small. It was fun watching him grow up. Naomi didn't go out for softball (in which she had more talent) because she wanted to play for him.

Many of you in blogsphere are friends with Renee, the 'Goose' in Washington State. I consider her my TNBC mentor being diagnosed with TNBC with very similar characteristics a few months before me. She was the first one to jump on to my blog to give me support.I also learned of the 3 week radiation protocol from her. Anyway, it appears that she has a local recurrence now and is understandably terrifed.