Sigh.  What can I possibly say?   What words can I possibly use to give my experience the justice it deserves?  I know you were all expecting a delightfully witty post about my big day, but you’re simply not going to get it.  Why?  Because I’m at a loss for words.  And I’m exhausted.  No really.  EXHAUSTED!  That was a big,  long day I had.  It was exciting and I was up late and I don’t do well on minimal sleep.  And then, to make matters worse, on the way home (sometime around 1am) a stomach bug got a hold of me.  But I’m on the road to recovery and wanted to share a few details with you.

Yes.  Yes I DID meet the lovely, the gracious, the hilarious, the kind and the stunningly beautiful Maureen Holloway (oh, and her lovely husband by-the-by).  She was delightful.  And yes, you could say that in some capacity, we are in fact, now friends.  But how can I possibly describe our meeting?  Yes, I was nervous and, oddly enough, at a loss for words.  Which is rare for me.  I tried very hard to be cool and polite, but inside I was thrilled.  Thrilled to meet her and thrilled that she was even lovelier than I had thought.  Because I would have been really disappointed if she had turned out to be a whiny nasty bitch.

Although words fail me to adequately describe Part One of “The Only Girl’s Big Day” perhaps I’ll just share a few pictures with you instead.

Here we are only moments after first meeting . . . when she used the words, AND I QUOTE “your blog is fantastic”.  Yes, that’s what she said!  Doesn’t matter if she meant it or not – she said it.  And on camera.  Because my friend video taped our meeting.  I know, I know.  Crazy and sad all at the same time, but I knew that I would be too nervous to remember any of our conversation.  But now I have repeatedly listened can choose to listen to her kind words over and over and over again.  Whenever I want.  And I must say here, that the only person that was happier than me at this moment was my dear friend Elle.  Who was so chuffed for me that she was practically beside herself.  She was giddy!  That’s when you know you have a true friend – when they are just so excited to watch you have your moment, that it actually becomes their moment too.

So here we are! (no – her hand isn’t made from alabaster.  Nor is there something wrong with it.  She was simply wearing gloves for sanitary reasons because she was going to flip some of the lunch burgers.  So stop looking at my friend’s weird hand.  It’s perfectly normal and manicured under that glove.  Please concentrate instead on how happy we look together.  And how warmly she’s embracing me.  And how she can totally pull off that pink & white breast cancer cowgirl hat!  My friend is so stylish)

And here she’s signing a Q107 poster that reads, AND I QUOTE “For Cher, My new best friend and blog colleague, Maureen Holloway”  Ha!  What do you think of that!

And for the record, I think she only signed two of those posters, and the other one was for Elle.  So there was definitely some special treatment there.

And here’s me with Mr. John Derringer (please note – again with the warm embrace)

And the rest of the Q107 morning radio show gang that I start every day with (left to right:  Bill Hayes, John Garbutt, John Derringer, Ryan Parker and of course my friend, the lovely Maureen)

And all joking aside, the event itself was a success.  Tons of people came out to support the Women’s College Hospital Breast Centre.  I think everyone had fun and lots of money was raised.  Which was what it was really all about.  Allowing a lot of really great people to continue doing some really awesome work.

And on a private note . . . Mo – I’d definitely go with the silver shoes.