was everything I hoped!
First of all, she looked radiant in a simple black dress and her spirit was just as it appears to be in her documentary, strong and lively. She was a natural up in front of everyone, reading parts of her book and answering questions from how she handles insurance to what top things she learned from her journey in alternative medicine.
And, just like she mentions in her blog about witnessing cancer posses forming as people waited to get her all important John Hancock in DC, the same happened in Denver. I mostly stood and took the scene is as we waited for our turn. Kris sat in a chair that resembled a throne, and we, her subjects, eagerly waited for our two minutes with her. I said this to her when it was finally our turn. Specifically I said, "We like your throne!" It was actually something Jenna had pointed out, and Kris was completely unaware of!
I told her how amazing I thought she was. Something I'm sure every person she has encountered recently has told her, and then I said, "I want to help." She looked up and said, "I want you to help!" She encouraged me to email her, but also said she's been getting thousands of emails, but she (or her husband and one other individual) are reading every one. So, I will definitely be emailing her. I mentioned how I am working on starting a website for people affected by cancer. Hopefully it was enough of a seed planted that when she reads my email she'll have a recollection of meeting me.
Then, before our time was up, we asked if we could get a picture. She happily complied and got up from her throne to join us with a big smile. But, when Jenna turned on her camera it immediately turned off again. We started to laugh at the timing of her camera battery to be out of juice. Jenna said, "The battery died! This never happens, why now?" Kris said, "No not died, croaked." She had spoken about how she doesn't like to say die or died or dying, but croak or croaked instead. So again we laughed.
After realizing there was no picture to be taken we moved on with our signed book and went upstairs to actually purchase it. We both flipped through the book and were really impressed with it. It is going to be great to read, and helpful too. There are pictures and summaries, and things like retail therapy that reminded us so much about Leigh.
Jenna thought we should hang around and wait until Kris was done signing to see if we could talk with her more. I agreed, so we headed back down to the signing area and made ourselves comfortable in some chairs and purused the book more. One of my favorite quotes from the book is one that I can hear Leigh say so perfectly. It's from tip#48 about playing the cancer card. "No you can't have that parking spot, I have cancer! Back off!"
While sitting there waiting we began talking with some woman who were part of Yes! Young Empowered Survivors. This is exactly what Leigh needed, but couldn't find. They too wanted to connect with Kris and were waiting. We all got to speak with her husband, Brian, while we waited. We found out that their 1 year anniversary was coming up and they wanted to plan a honeymoon to Costa Rica. Wow! That's where I want to take my honeymoon. I told him that and he asked when I got married. When I said it will be two years in October he said, "Wow, you're worse than us." He's right. I really need to get on that vacation. I think my husband and I deserve it!
We were all rewarded with her presence after a bit, and we even ended up getting pictures with her! Lucky for us one of the woman from Yes!, Jolene, had an iPhone. Yay! She took our picture and emailed it right then and there. Jenna, Kris, and I stood together smiling, and then laughing because we realized we were staring at the back of an iPhone and had no idea where we were supposed to be looking. We snapped a picture at the moment, so here they are. Our posed picture and our moment of laughter picture.
This event was such perfect timing for me. To give me a kick in the butt to really move forward with my plans. To connect with people who are exactly the community I want to reach. To remember why it is so important to accomplish my goal. To find ways to be more involved.
We ended up being there till nearly 10:00! It was a great night.
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