A Bad Mood Spoiled.

Tonight, I was stuck in traffic after a pretty stressful day at work, dressed like a nerd, and running late for an event that I had been asked to attend. I was supposed to get there early, and with bumper to bumper I was panicking and wishing I had left work even earlier that day to make it in time.  I was directed to park down the street from the facility, as the event had already started.  I felt conspicuous in the costume, with large glasses perched on my face, a wool sweater in the balmy Florida air, a bright yellow shirt dress(2 sizes too big, but purchased at Goodwill and worked for the role) and brown Mary Janes with white socks.The ladies passing me were all beautifully dressed for an evening of support and cocktails as we all headed towards the Raising the Roof on Breast Cancer in Women of Color at Gilda's Club, where my mind was blown and my heart was moved.

I entered the large red double doors with cartoon Gilda's on the windows and froze, unsure of what to do.  A kind lady with a name tag directed me to sign in. "I'm supposed to meet Elizabeth...I'm Lauren...I'm playing Emily Litella. I'm doing...something...tonight." The receptionist spotted Elizabeth's arm down the hallway, and I made my way through a gorgeous living room towards her. Elizabeth is a force. She's bubbly and beautiful and immediately grabbed my hand, introduced me to Tamara G., radio host extraordinaire and the evenings emcee, then took us on a whirlwind tour of Gilda's Club. There's a yoga room where patients can relax and also take watercolor classes.  The basement houses toys, books, games, and amazing works of art on the walls where children coping with loss or younger cancer patients come and play. This led to a teen room, with inspirational art work, a giant television, and Guitar Hero set in a hip, lounge type room.

Tamara and I started asking questions about what they do at Gilda's. Elizabeth was quick with an anecdote about a man who fell in a hole. He asked a doctor walking by to help him out.  The doctor wrote some prescriptions, tossed them in the hole and went on his way.  A spiritual adviser walked by, and the man asked him for help in getting out of the hole.  The adviser tossed in a book of prayers and was on his way.  Then the man's friend walked by, and before he could even ask, the friend jumped into the hole with him. "Why did you do that?  We'll never get out!" the man said, furious. The friend looked at him and grabbed his hand.  "I did it because I've been down here before, and I know the way out."  This is the philosophy of Gilda's Club.

After sharing some personal stories about how cancer has effected us all, I was taken back to the front reception area to prepare a short script (about Raising the POOP) for the Emily bit. At 6:45, Elizabeth started the speeches off with an intro...of me. Honestly, I have no idea if my portrayal of Emily was good at all, but it was over in about 20 seconds, and Elizabeth was there with the whole," Ms. Litella, it's Raising the Roof." "Oh...that's different.  Never Mind."

The next woman to speak was the Director of Gilda's, thanking everyone for being there. One woman was introduced (I forget her name at this moment, but I was in a state of overwhelm as she spoke), who had been through treatment for breast cancer and encouraged every woman there to get checked, and to make themselves and their health a priority.  Then another woman prodded everyone to dig in their goody bags and bring out a little hand mirror. Everyone made a pledge to themselves to schedule a mammogram tomorrow. They then took it a step further, and told each of us to reach out to someone we did not know.  A beautiful woman with glasses and close cropped hair pointed at me and said, "You!"  We hooked pinkies and pledged to get ourselves checked. Tears came to my eyes as this stranger grabbed me into the biggest and best hug I've had in a long time. I'm crying now, to be honest. She told another woman about us pinky swearing, and she came up and hooked pinkies and just looked into my eyes with a bright smile on her face.

The rest of the evening was amazing. Music started and everyone was mingling.  I started awkwardly dancing to the music, and a group of ladies just started belly laughing at me and telling me I needed to stop.  I met Julia Bagg, a reporter from NBC Miami who was covering the event, and we had a really fun conversation about being young professional women. I walked into a room and my pinky pals were there, sitting alone on a couch, looking at photos on a camera. "It's my pinky pals!" I yelled, grabbing them. They laughed at me, and then I awkwardly posed for a photo in an Emily Litella manner.

The whole night was amazing, inspiring, and made me want to do anything to help fund this amazing non-profit. The support of the entire staff and the amazing women who attended this event made it a magical evening that opened my eyes to a lot of things.  If you have money, or skills, or time, or anything, you should give it to this worthy organization.

SO. Who's ready for another Jiggles and Giggles?  HMMM?  Anyone?!?!?