On Thursday night, after the women in ed tech dinner, I joined a bunch of the folks from the conference for some karaoke. I don’t really remember the last time I did karaoke, but each time it reminds me of one particular night screaming Bon Jovi’s “It’s my life” at the top of my lungs from the crew lounge of a container ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. This time it wasn’t so much about singing Bon Jovi or Bryan Adams’ “Summer of 69”, although I somehow ended up with the mic in my hand for both those songs!

Throughout the evening of karaoke, there were many reasons to laugh. Someone commented to me the next morning that they received an abdominal workout from how hard they laughed. I found myself nodding and thinking – if only you knew.

I returned to my hotel room at about midnight. I smiled and then I cried. Through my tears, I posted this simple tweet:

I realized that I had not laughed so hard since before my cancer diagnosis. I had not been that happy in over a year. At karaoke, I laughed so hard I think I may have loosened some of the interior stitches that are holding my abdomen together. I say this only slightly jestingly – my abs are weak and I cannot tell if the pains I feel are just nerves regrowing or if they are overworked muscles. That night I stayed up so much later than was sensible given my morning schedule, I drank more wine than I should have, but I also laughed and laughed and laughed. Oh how I so needed that.