A dear friend, who shall remain anonymous, sent me this email in regard to her intrepid second grader:
Subject: Champagne anyone?
OMG. X, left to her own devices by Dad and before I got home with
the alternate dinner, decided to make a fancy dinner on her own. Salad with dried lentils sprinkles (um crunchy) to start, followed by left over stuffed shells, and a light dessert of vanilla ice cream with
crushed Thin Mint GS cookies and a Valentines chocolate. All in all
quite nice. And to drink – champagne, which she’d gotten out of the
fridge and opened all by herself. GASP! Boarding school. The only
hope. Start collecting all nickels, dimes, quarters now.
Subject: Re: Champagne anyone?
I understand your concern, but this one is filed under priceless. Tell
her lentils might be hard on her teeth. Oh, and that she should wait a
few years for her next sip of champagne. It will taste better then. Love
you all, Linnea
Subject: Re: Champagne anyone?
We do have to remember that this is the child that at age 3 or 4 declared she wanted to “drink champagne and mambo all night”.
Subject: Re: Champagne anyone?
PS: How’d she get that bottle open?
Subject: Re: Champagne anyone?
All by herself. How’d she know how to get the bottle open????
life and breath: outliving lung cancer 
OMG! Linnea, that is just too funny!
She, the unnamed child, is indeed a funny one. As is her mommy, the author.
I love this, what a wonderful Valentine this little one is. (minus the undercooked lentils maybe, but really, who ever gets those right the first time??)
Lorraine, we are two of a kind (mind). My first concern was the lentils. As she managed to open a champagne bottle unassisted without taking out an eye, I assume she’ll master the art of lentils as well. Love to you, Linnea
This child is clearly destined for great things! Lentils, champagne, mambo. I guess not necessarily in that order. Linnea, I have been thinking about you, enjoying the glimpses in photos, and I am so glad that you are doing well.
Joan Z
Joan, howdy, and I too predict an impressive future for this precocious being. Hope you are well too 🙂
Linnea
Hi Linnea —
As a lung cancer fighter who’s far less ‘militant’ than you, I want to say thank you. It’s inspiring to see the immense effort you put forth in bringing awareness — not to mention funding — to lung cancer.
I’d value your opinion about something: What do you think about chemosensitivity assays? Have you looked into them at all? They’re considered experimental and my docs aren’t for them, but I’ve heard all kinds of positive anecdotal evidence. What’s your take?
Kyle, thanks for the compliment. I assure you there are others working far harder than I. Luckily, my blog allows me to reach lots of people without having to pound the pavement.
As per chemosensitivity assays; if you have access to one, I think it’s a great thing. It is also my understanding that some insurance policies may not provide coverage for this procedure, so that is something to consider. In my own case, had we been able to extract enough material (as well as live cells) from my last biopsy, there would have been an attempt to culture cells in the lab for this purpose; perhaps down the road.
If there had been a way to determine that tarceva and cisplatin were not going to be effective against my tumors, two drugs I received, it would have saved me the barrage of side effects–some of which were quite lasting. Obviously that would have been of great benefit to my general health, it would have saved valuable time, and in the long wrong, been fiscally prudent as well.
So, that’s my personal (and unqualified) take on the chemosensitivity assays. Best of luck to you.
Linnea
Speaking from experience ( 3 years at a boarding school) attending boarding school will definitely now reduce the interest in Champagne, or any alcohol for that matter, though she wouldn’t have to fix her own meals…. Love reading your posts!
Amy, I can’t tell if your comment is facetious or factual; having had no experienced with the world of boarding schools. Any child who can open a champagne bottle at her tender age will likely figure out a way to do whatever she wants (whatever that means!). I will try to be a good influence…L
Love that kid! Crunch lentils and champagne – very innovative. I will give you another cooking story to giggle about. When I met Guillermo many, many years ago, he was into making bran muffins. He wanted me to taste them. He bought a package mix and put it into the bowl, added an egg and milk. He then proceeded to put his hand into this and stir it all together. I was shocked and asked him why he was doing that. His reply was “well the package says mix by hand”. I did explain that that means use a spoon and not an electric mixer. I guess it lost something in the translation.
Beryl, I would have to imagine that as soon as you recovered from your shock, you realized you were in the presence of person with a very unique and interesting take on life. To this day.
Years ago a friend of mine was teaching an English class to freshmen in college and assigned a paper on Euthanasia. When the papers were returned, she was shocked to see one titled Youth In Asia. I was delighted; so much in this world is open to translation.
Cheers, Linnea