Walking the walk

Events – things like galas, benefits, awards dinners, etc – are part of my job. The funny thing is that “events” have really always been a part of my job – but now I get to attend them, instead of arranging them. And the funnier thing is that, for some of them, I’d FAR RATHER be the person arranging the event.

Oh sure – it SOUNDS tremendously glamorous – attending gala evenings with silent auctions and seeing, meeting, and hearing the fairly rich and pretty well-known speak about organizations that are (hopefully) near and dear to their hearts. But the truth of the matter is that sometimes it’s kind of a chore. For one thing, these events usually happen 40 or 50 miles away from my home, and are almost always at night – most times on weekends. And sometimes the MC for the event is just randomly hired and has little connection to the charity in question. They’re not walking the walk … they’re just attending to smile and wave and raise money. So basically, on my increasingly rare down-time on weekend evenings, I get to commute pretty much BACK to the area in which I work and meet a bunch of folks that, honestly, I’ll never really connect with as we all listen to a host who doesn’t TRULY care why we’re all there.

And then there’s the focus of the charity itself. Even though I know that work is being done to address the problems, most times the issues being addressed are REMARKABLY tragic. ANNNND then add to all these small annoyances that I’m usually required to dress up beyond all reasonable expectation … suddenly it doesn’t seem so glamorous. In fact, it can be rather a chore, but not this time.

On Wednesday evening, I went to the Palace Hotel in downtown SF dressed in a Michael Kors sweater, my low Manolos and a pair of Levi’s 501s. I looked, and felt, really great plus I was still smiling as a carry-over from my coffee-break with Thea earlier that same day. So I was comfortable and I looked terrific as I arrived at the “Blueprints & Blue Jeans Ball”, a benefit evening with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his stunning fiancé, actress Jennifer Siebel. The event was well-attended, the auction items went FAST (I’m still kicking myself for not bidding on that Lake Tahoe getaway), we got to hear (and see) great stories about getting better, safer, more affordable housing for families that just needed a boost to get their footing annnnd we raised more than $300k in the process. Mr. Newsom passionately addressed the issue of homelessness and living far below the poverty line in a county that is KNOWN for having ridiculous amounts of money for about 15 minutes, and it was obvious that he cared deeply about the families he introduced to all in the room. It was a win all the way around. So it’s no wonder that I was in such an upbeat mood, not just that evening but … well, pretty much since that evening, actually.

My company requested the employee base to burn two vacation days this month, so I goofed off at home all day Thursday – thumbed through some old books, listened to music, made a few batches of brownies to take to the crew at Stanford who are caring for my Aunt Verna and enjoyed the terrific weather. I wasn’t even all that annoyed when my Stanford friends kidnapped me at 4:15am on Friday morning to attend the memorial event for the 102nd anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. Mr. Newsom spoke there, too – and we all sang “San Francisco” after the sirens sounded at 5:16am. It was a fun and unique morning - ‘tho it was a bit brisk outdoors (and, since we were running late, I changed from slippers to shoes in the car). I got home, relaxed for a bit, wrote a note to remind myself to later call my sister and wish my niece a happy 1st birthday and then got a random call from Karin, who found herself with a few child-free hours on her hands. We went out to lunch and had a good (and much needed) catch-up session.

Later in the day, I drove to Stanford to check in with my own doctors and then with my Aunt. The place where Verna is staying isn’t at all attached to the hospital facility itself. It’s a block of fully-furnished apartments meant for long-term and/or adjustable care patients who will be returning home in due time. It’s staffed by orderlies, nurses, and physical therapists. Doctors only visit when called or if someone has an appointment and are unable to visit their physician’s office … and surgeons are there only when something awful has occurred. About 15 minutes after I arrived, Lisa (my Cousin) arrived with a bunch of magazines and some medical journals that her mom wanted to have. I was getting ready to go when I was startled by a familiar voice in the hallway … one of my surgeon friends was approaching, but I think Verna and Lisa were even MORE startled. Greg assured them that he wasn’t there on business ... which was probably pretty obvious as he handed me my slippers and sheepishly said “here - you left these in my car this morning”.

Oh yeah – it’ll be weeks until I hear the end of this.