Happy Birthday or Whatever

I'm currently reading Happy Birthday or Whatever by Annie Choi. I ran across it in the library yesterday as I was talking to Sam on the phone. Interestingly, Annie is my age (32), born about a month later than I was, and a Korean-American. I think it's great that she has a book out, actually a memoir. As I met with my high school friends last Sat., I realized that I don't remember much of high school. Big chunks of my life are already forgotten. If I were to write a memoir, I don't think that I could go into such detail or write it up so amusingly.

It turns out that her mother had breast cancer while she was in college. Her mother was diagnosed when she felt very tired, and the doctors found a tennis ball-size lump. She had a mastectomy and was undergoing chemo before her daughter even found out that she had breast cancer. I would feel abandoned if that happened to me, but, of course, her parents didn't want to distract her from her studies, a very typical Korean response. It was the same when my mom had to have surgery while I was in college. She told me to stay where I was.

It seems Annie's mother is still in remission, but I haven't gotten to the end of the book yet. Also, I think that she stopped writing when she was 28 or something, but in any case, she would have survived the 5-year mark for being cancer-free. Although cancer can come back after 5 years, most cancer, if they were to reoccur would happen in the first 2-3 years.

My head's overheating from my wig. Happy 32 to Janet! (yesterday, actually the day before then because of the time difference)