I could have danced all night!

It's now going on three weeks since I completed my radiation therapy and this past weekend was quite the barometer reading of the progress I've made toward finding my old battery pack. On Friday, I hit my work desk at 6 a.m. and spent four solid hours of putting out fires, creating ads, completing paperwork and answering questions, before dashing out at 10 a.m. when Jeff arrived to pick me up, and we began the trek to St. Louis. We had a wedding to attend that night at 6 p.m. and with all the construction delays, we were lucky to hit town at 4 p.m., get cleaned up, dressed up and to the cathedral in time to find a parking spot, before the other 350 guests all arrived.

Ordinarily, this would be about the exact time that I would be face down on my bed and out like a light for a nap just long enough to confuse me when I woke up and wondered if it was day or night. But there was no time for a nap on Friday.

The cathedral Basilica in St. Louis is reportedly the largest structure in the city. It utilizes more mosaic tiles than any other structure in the world and its size and acoustics are responsible for the priests' words echoing to the gathered guests. It's an impressive church, but that was just the beginning. The wedding service was at least an hour long, but I'm proud to report my head didn't nod even once.

This being a "black tie optional" affair, the assembled guests looked like a designer's fashion show. At the reception, the Four Seasons Hotel's large "cigar bar" balcony offered amazing views of the nightlife along the Landing and the Mississippi River. In the ladies' room, there were fresh flower wreaths hanging from a ribbon on every stall door and size-designated baskets of "dancing shoes" (flip-flops) for female guests to take and wear.

The band (orchestra?) had six or eight instrumentalists and eight singers -- four men, three women. They were called the Motown Review. We just called them amazing. The music was wonderful. The food was wonderful. Everyone danced and had a wonderful time. Bad knees and all, I danced most of the evening. We left about midnight and I had to drag Jeff out of there. He wanted to keep dancing as long as the band was playing. But, eight hours late, I finally hit that wall that I usually hit at 4 p.m.

It's only been a few weeks and my energy is truly ratcheting back up where it used to be. To tell the truth, I could have danced only about half the night. It was Jeff who could have danced all night. And let me tell you, there's something really wrong with that picture!