Carpe Diem

(Photo from www.sowhateverhappenedto.com about Pam Dawber)

I found out about Robin Williams passing after waking up from a nap.  My fiancé told me he committed suicide (at time of the writing of this blog that is what the news is saying).  

Anyone who is my age or older remembers Robin Williams from Happy Days and Mork and Mindy.  Yes the younger generation knows him as Mrs. Doubtfire but I will always remember him fondly as Mork.

In the 70's and 80's the comedy boom was happening, and many of the sitcoms would hire comedians as guest stars on their shows.  

In 1983 or 1984 I went to California on a trip. My parents knew some people who worked in the TV and Film industry.  We were able to see a few shows on the Paramount Lot.  We had front row seats to see Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy.  He was hilarious and quick, and yes I owned a pair of rainbow suspenders.

 I think this trip was what started my long love with Hollywood, and was one of the reasons I wanted to work in the industry. 

Depression.

It is silent, it is painful, and you feel like you are completely alone.  It can skew everything around you. You often feel like you cannot talk to anyone about how you feel.  It is difficult, and mental illness still carries a huge stigma.  

I have written and talked about my battle with depression often.  It is not easy to get out of the darkness and think that you can talk about it.  

You can, and you should.

There are others who have felt like you do.

With mental illness you are never alone.

There is always help.

There is always hope.

I will remember Robin Williams for the laughs he brought me, not for his tragic death.

I hope you will do the same.

If you think you are depressed or suicidal please get help.

Here are a few links:

Bring Change 2 Mind

National Alliance on Mental Health

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

I'll leave you with this quote from Robin Williams:

What's right is what's left if you do everything else wrong.

It's been a while part 1

 Image courtesy Stacey Reeb

Wow. It has been almost 8 months since I have written anything on this blog. I guess I didn't really have much to say. I was busy playing hockey and enjoying every second of it. We didn't have a great year, but it is about having fun and improving, winning is great too, but we all know that doesn't happen all the time for everyone. It is strange that I enjoyed Winter so much, this winter the snowfall record was broken. It was endless. Usually that kind of thing would bother me, but for some reason this year it did not. I am just happy to be here!!! I did have surgery in March. At the end of last year I had an ultrasound and my OB/GYN saw that a small polyp I had grew. He looked at it and did a biopsy. I have known him for many years and he wanted to be straight up with me. "Mel, I have seen this many times, and I have to tell you that I believe it is cancer." Silence Shit I thought. He can't be right, and deep down I knew he wasn't. We brought my fiance in to discuss it. He was nervous. I still wasn't convinced. The doc was surprised how well I was taking it. I never believe anything until I get the results. At least this is what I tell myself (and others) It is hard to imagine having cancer again. You hit the 5 year mark and you think everything is ok. A few of my friends had a recurrance and passed away after their recurrance. Needless to say I was a little scared. Fast forward to a few days later. Doc texts me to tell me it isn't cancer. But we should remove it. I agree with his advice. He recommends a gynecological oncologist/surgeon to remove it. Oncologist just in case, when they do the surgery they will do a frozen section, in case the biopsy didn't get anything. The surgeon was cool and strictly by the book. A no nonsense doctor. Someone for me to have a little fun with. We talked about having a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) and he started to talk about statistics about removing the ovaries, (oopherectomy) and before he could finish I said, take em out! I'm not using them! Probably not what he was expecting to hear. After the surgeon left the nurse came in to schedule. I wanted to postpone the surgery because we had playoffs, and even though my team wouldn't win the trophy we could have secured 3rd place. My fiance Doug shook his head at me and the nurse's body language told me that would not be a possibility. So surgery was scheduled for a day after our championship game.

This is part one.  It is later than I thought, and there is more to the story, so I will say goodnight for now.