my infinite wisdom, straight from nevada

"when in reno, do as the renans."
-me

spent three fabulous days in reno at the leadership summit. an emotional, intense experience. three solid days where the only real downtime was spent by the pool on thursday and saturday afternoon.

these are my takeaways from the weekend:

• never leave your big camera at home when there is a huge hot air balloon race at dawn. you will kick yourself every waking moment.
• the new cancer resource network (soon to debut in pierce county) absolutely rocks. i cannot wait to see it up and running.
• when out on a friday night adventure in downtown reno, when you meet several people in a row that are missing front teeth, you are in the wrong area of town.
• an incredible feeling: meeting a cancer survivor who thanks you for personally welcoming them at a relay in 2005, tells you how much you mean to them, and who then later tells the adorably cute canadian next to you on the plane that you are the "most wonderful woman in the world".
• i am terrible at bowling. so terrible that my score increases when i: bowl with the wrong hand, bowl through my legs (backwards) and push the ball with both hands
• eggs benedict is positively yummy at 2:30 a.m.
• if you have to teach a workshop early the next morning, 2:30 a.m. eggs benedict is not the brightest idea.
• firing up peeps to fundraise for acs is a super fabulous adrenaline rush. it will get you over being sleepy from 2:30 a.m. eggs benedict.
• reading text messages that i sent after a few hours at a dive bar are pretty funny.
• i love getting to know people outside the normal world you know them in...jen, loved seeing the "biggest little city in the world" with you. :)
• getting closure on challenging experiences is vital to moving on and discovering your next adventure. i found that this weekend. and it made my heart glow.
• i met people i feel like i've always known. that instant sense of 'family' is irreplaceable. gail, you were absolutely fabulous as a host. thank you.
• you can meet people on an airplane and change their life.
• or they could change yours.