A Mother's Musings and Mumblings

Every once in a while (ok, about six times an hour) something strikes me as funny for no good reason. This not only got me but got me enough to want to share.

Breast Cancer is serious business and I support research in all of it’s forms. I just have to question why the NIH or NCI isn’t directing the Congressionally appropriated research funds. What is the DoD doing with their hand in this? Do I really need them to defend my boobies?

According to the National Breast Cancer Coalition I do. They say:

Without a doubt, the DOD BCRP has funded important breast cancer
research that simply would not have been funded elsewhere. The most
significant example so far has been the research that led to the
understanding of the gene, HER2/neu, which is involved in the
progression of some breast cancers. This research ultimately led to the
development of the drug Herceptin®, a drug that has been shown to
extend the lives of women with HER2/neu-positive breast cancer.

NBCCF has been the driving force behind the DOD BCRP since its
inception. NBCCF’s role in the DOD BCRP represents an unprecedented
working relationship between advocates and researchers. This program
has been recognized around the world as an important new research model
with many innovative features. In its 1997 review of the DOD BCRP, the
Institute of Medicine commended the program and stated, “The program
fills a unique niche among public and private funding sources for
cancer research. It is not duplicative of other programs and is a
promising vehicle for forging new ideas and scientific breakthroughs in
the nation’s fight against breast cancer.” Grassroots advocates lobby
yearly to assure reallocation of funds to continue the work of the DOD
BCRP.

Again, I’m confused. Why would this research have not been funded elsewhere? Are other government agencies really that nonchalant about genetic markers for cancer? Since when does the NCI not take an interest in the development of new cancer therapies?

Call me skeptical, and I am, but I think that the “fight” against breast cancer doesn’t need to be fought by the people who brought us Abu Ghraib. I don’t mean that we should turn down research funding, just that I question the logic of who we leave holding the purse strings. I mean, my itty bitty titties would feel safer if the research funding wasn’t being allocated by the same folks who brought us Tailhook. 

Biased? You bet. But their my boobies and I’m picky about who defends them.

For over a decade my hair has been long and straight. My entire life it has been painfully straight – to the point of driving my mother nuts. She used weapons-grade chemicals to give me a perm once. It lasted three days. No matter how hard I fought or anyone else fought on my behalf my hair hung absolutely straight down. Finally I quit fighting it and grew it long. If it was going to hang straight down, it could hang down long and at least look intentionally straight. Truth be told it was a good style and it suited me. Good thing, too. I kept it far, far too long.

Flattening irons are the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. When I first heard of them I thought it was a joke. Here I’d spent time, money and effort to get my hair to hold a curl longer than I could hold my breath only to find out there was a market for products to help people flatten their hair! But it wasn’t a joke. I’ve seen these things in action and people really do use them. People who complain about the curl in their hair.

I realize that just about now y’all are wondering if I’m totally off my rocker. No post in months and now I’m talking about hair styles. Fear not, it’s still me.

Flattening irons and my hot rollers have something in common – they are both torture devices designed to torment people who want what they don’t by nature have. I can use hot rollers, but it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have curly hair and never will. Really the thing that made me happiest with my hair wasn’t a new curling iron or better hot rollers but just giving up the fight. Because Goddess knows I am TIRED of fighting. Looking in the mirror and saying: “I have straight hair and nothing will change that. If I quit fighting that FACT I’ll be happier.”

So I did. And I was. Yet somehow I continued to not apply that lesson to the rest of my life. WF thinks of himself first (and last. and twice in between). No amount of therapy or browbeating from me will change that. If I quit fighting that FACT I’ll be happier. There are things about Iggy that are equally true – I just need to quit fighting the FACTS and live in reality.

Still with me? Because this last weekend the analogy just got interesting.

I got a hair cut. Short. Well, most would say medium length but I think it’s short. The most interesting thing about this? With the shorter hair and the layers it holds a curl. I’m back to using my hot rollers in the morning and it looks good. And it isn’t flat or straight.

Where does this leave our example? Am I back to fighting the FACTs? Or have I sidestepped into a new reality – teleportation via shears? And what would that mean for the situations in my life I’m tired of fighting? Is there really a way to change them or am I truely better off just accepting the way things are and where I stand with people?

Yeah, I know. I suck. I don’t write, I don’t call. I just up and disappear from the blogsphere for months on end. Over a holiday even!

Bad, bad, WM! I’d say you should spank me but then the rest of the post wouldn’t get written.

So I’m back. At first it was just a little hiccup in the blog. Then it was a full pause. At that point, I felt like I needed to comment on the end of the pause but by the time I figured out what to say it wasn’t a pause – it was a full stop. Then inertia took over. Throw in job upheaval (for the best), holidays and the dark time of the year and I just could not find the energy to put into this.

Let’s see if 2009 works out better for me. There’s a whole HUGE backlog of blog topics from my hiatus just waiting to be tackled but I’ll save them for a bit longer. You have to get used to me again before I start talking about Halloween costumes in January.