New Mexico, here I come…
Today I’m flying out from a rainy Atlanta to a, until recently, snowy Albuquerque for work. In my role as a epidemiologist in the Division of Violence Prevention, I do work on (primarily youth-related) sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner (dating) violence (IPV). As it turns out, SV and IPV in national surveys are most highly reported (compared to other race/ethnicities) in American Indian / Alaskan Native (AI/AN) communities. Today and tomorrow, there is a meeting of the directors of the 12 Tribal Epi Centers that collect health related data for the various AI/AN tribes throughout the country. I am going as a representative of the CDC to let the directors know that we (CDC) are interested in getting their input on how we can / should go about collecting this sensitive data from AI/AN respondents. It should be a good meeting.
Of course, there is currently inclement weather here in Atlanta and there are rumblings of delays (despite what Delta.com says), so there is no telling when I might get to NM. Luckily, my presentation at the meeting is not until tomorrow, though I had planned to go to the afternoon presentations this afternoon. We’ll see…
Not that I am glutton for punishment, but Friday, upon my return to Atlanta from Albuquerque, I turn around and head back up to Newark, NJ for yet another festive visit with my family. This time around, we’re celebrating Hamburger Hanukkah. It’ll be nice to not only see my siblings and mother (as I did in Thanksgiving), but also to see my father and my cousins, Aunts, and Uncles from my father’s side.
Unfortunately, I am the only one from my family going this year; it’s just prohibitively expensive to fly the whole Merle Hamburger clan up for the party. I have found memories of Hamburger Hanukkah from my childhood. The event used to be held in my grandmother’s (father’s mother) house, which was an old two story building with lots of places to play hide and seek with my cousins (especially, my younger cousin, Susan).
I remember that on the Friday of that weekend, my family would go to Granny’s house and we’d have dinner and wait for my Uncle and the cousins to show up (from NJ). For me, the baby of my family, there was always an air of excitement in waiting for them to get there. They’d finally arrive and I would get lost in the resulting flurry of hugs and kisses and greeting exchanges. Reluctantly, we’d have to go home, so that all could sleep, but I was able to look forward to going back over and spending all day Saturday (including the gift exchange in the evening — I fondly remember Granny’s covered porch being STUFFED with gifts) and Sunday morning with the gang. It was a true family get together that, in retrospect, I now treasure.
But things change and we, unfortunately, have to grow up. Hamburger Hanukkah these days is much less involved, though still as festive. My cousins all have their own families, as do me and (most of) my siblings and instead of getting together for a weekend, we get together for a dinner and a gift exchange. While I wax nostalgic about these changes, I understand they were inevitable. I hope that my cousins are doing a better job of getting themselves together so their children will know their cousins. I know that I wish my siblings and I were better able to get together so my children could better know their cousins. That’s the problem with living in Atlanta, when everyone else lives in the Northeast.
This weekend will be nice. I will have an opportunity to see a lot of my extended family that I have not been able to see in a while, but I doubt it will be okay for me to crawl under a table (as I did when I was a child) and wait while my father handed out presents.
This year has been one in which I have been forced to, in many ways grow up and face some hard (and unpleasant) facts. In an earlier post I said that ‘Chemo Sucks’ (and I still hold that sentiment quite strongly), but events in the last couple of weeks has pointed out to me the corollary to that sentiment: “Acting like an adult often sucks.” Sometimes, I wish I could go back to a time when other people made the big decisions. Unforutnately, I know that wishing a thing doesn’t make it happen (otherwise, I would have won the $150 million Mega Millions lottery this week).
Have a great Wednesday.
Merle