As I am known for being a social butterfly (as Wayne Cambell would say NOT) attending a bar crawl with a bunch of fellow runners is already a set up for awkwardness being on full display. Add in the fact that I don't drink alcohol, because it raises my circulating estrogen level that the tomoxifen works so hard to lower every day. Now, when out with a bunch of people drinking seltzer water as you travel from bar to bar can lead to an awkward situation when you run into someone who is not aware of the cancer background.
Let's recap the situation:
I run into a friend of one of the distance runners, who turns out to be someone I ran against in high school. She is one of the nicest people I ever competed against. We discuss current jobs, I am introduced to her fiance, we talk about her sister's Celiac disease and that no she will never be able to eat gluten. We are pleasantly chatting when they notice that I have no drink in hand.
"Do you want a beer?"
"Oh, no thanks I can't drink"
"Oh, alright"
Now, as I haven't really seen this runner friend in 6 years (we have not competed against each other in 10) I decided to make sure that this does not imply that I am an alcoholic.
"I take medication to make sure my breast cancer doesn't return and it interferes with alcohol"
"What?!?!" (I am now beginning to think this overshare was not the best plan).
"Yeah, yeah. No big deal. Had breast cancer, cancer free now"
"Did you have chemo and everything?!?"
"Yes, had the triple crown. Was bald. Had a great head shape like your fiance" (Attempting to play it off..)
Her fiance complements my current hairstyle and attempt to wave someone else over to make this terrible episode stop. Thankfully, it was time for the bar crawl to move on. Her fiance decides to stay and not come to the next bar. I do not see her for the remainder of the night. Glad to see my super power of taking any situation and making it awkward still exists.
Maybe next time I should just say, "No thanks, I am good right now".
I'm going to start practicing.
"You don't use mayonnaise? Why? Is it ok if I use mayonnaise? Are you addicted to mayonnaise? Should I use my mayonnaise outside?" - Jim Gaffigan
ReplyDeleteIf you could have seen the look on the TSA agents' faces as I also overshared when they opened my carry-on a few years back. "Uh - I swear I'm not a drug addict or anything."
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