The sagas continue.

Oh, so many sagas. College student, young adult, cancer survivor, female, motivational speaker, coughing, musician, photographer, hungry... Pick your poison or pleasure. I like to think that no person is truly one-dimensional. We all have different sides, multiple stories and uncommon experiences. I am fortunate to be able to share some of my stories with anyone who cares to click on a link and start reading.

So as I was saying, the sagas. It kind of cracks me up how many different definitions there are of who I am, and yet I am still just one person. Yesterday and last night are great examples of that. I'll begin in the wee small hours of yesterday morning, when I went to bed. Now, I am really not a hardcore partier. I like small, informal gatherings with friends and food. But I am still a crazy college student! and every once in a while, I do stay out past my bedtime. Friday night was one of those nights. It wasn't even that crazy of a night; it was just late. But that's fine. We all need to relax and hang out sometimes. During the day yesterday, I met up with my fellow editors on the Brownstone Journal, BU's undergraduate research publication. We are finalizing our issue for this year, and right now that means editing 10 to 20 page research papers. Worth noting, perhaps, is that I am a bit of a nerd and (kind of...) enjoy copy editing. I will destroy your comma splice, if it kills you and me together. After our editing extravaganza, I had to book it to the Logan Airport Hilton hotel, where I was one of the featured performers/survivors at the Golf Ball, a benefit for brain-tumor research and the Jimmy Fund.

Over the course of about 90 minutes, I went from frazzled college student in frayed jeans, lugging my messenger bag, camera and guitar, to a young professional in a cocktail dress with heels. The Golf Ball itself was great. The auction raised a ton of money for the Jimmy Fund, the food was Amazing! and everyone was there to support the eradication of cancer, which, of course, was the best part of the whole evening. Oh yeah, and I guess I did okay with the whole guitar-sing-say a bit about myself thing. I am going to be a bit immodest right now but only because I think it's funny. I love defying people's expectations of me. I am not a terribly conspicuous person. I carry myself well when I want to, and I can hold an intelligent conversation if I need to. But I am not self-promoting, and I try to keep a low profile. I met a few people before I played, and I'm sure they all thought I was a nice girl, good story, etc. But then I got on stage, did my Caroline-thing and showed them that there is a lot more to me than meets the eye. I love being on stage. I love singing, and I love playing guitar. I also occasionally enjoy dressing up a bit. I was so happy to be able to combine all of those things in support of such a great cause. Yes, I am a cancer survivor, but I am so many other things as well. We all are. Every one of us who is fighting something, it doesn't matter what, cannot be typecast by that one fight. I think, I hope, last night I did my small part in illustrating how we all live our lives our own way, and it is pretty awesome.

I am still battling the cold-demon. I am still procrastinating on my stupid paper. I am still forcing myself to not go to every event in Boston to take photos because I need to focus on getting well right now. I still play guitar; I am still writing songs. And I am still surviving. Last night was one opportunity for me to help others find a way to survive as well, and I can only hope I will have more chances to advocate others' survivals. Life is so ridiculous. No one should have to miss out on any of the sagas that their lives have in store, no matter how difficult some of those sagas may be. So, as I've said before, I am fighting for survivorship now. Last night I guitared a bit and joked a bit and shared my story. This coming week, I am speaking to a women's health class at BU, and I am also going to be on a panel discussing "college and cancer" at a young-adult symposium downtown. Oh yeah, and I might finish my paper, maybe. The sagas continue, and I will continue to chronicle them. Enjoy this week, the last day of March and the beginning of April! Hooray. One month of school left. Peace.

oh, p.s. Once again, if you don't want to comment on the b-log but want to say hi or tell me I need to eat more red meat and less Starbucks iced chai, feel free to drop me an e-mail: cbridges86@gmail.com