Curing Cancer One Masterpiece at a Time!™

When corporate shipped me off to a weeklong executive retreat in Snowmass, I didn't realize it would be within walking distance to the ski in and ski out house my father built, one of the first houses on the mountain and right off the main lift. I couldn't recognize the house I'd spent years visiting because its new owners replaced the rustic wooden chalet with million-dollar architecture. I didn't recognize the little village I remembered either. Everything was more extensive, more crowded, and much more expensive. 

"Team effectiveness training" translated to ten-hour marathons confronting dysfunction. Imagine a fight club with forced vulnerability! We slammed egos and battered beliefs, then hugged apologies by night's end, emotionally battered. Brutal, though it proved, slowly armor eroded as eight Type-A personas revealed authentic longings, fears, and dreams. The group dynamic brought aspects I hid even from myself into startling focus, illuminating blind spots. 

Stripped of our facades, compassion flooded in. Soon, lifelong strangers felt like family - a new family uniting once disparate trainees into a purposeful whole. By discovering each of our unique gifts, the workshop wove fragmented pieces into a vibrant mosaic mural where every brightly colored tile fitted into the next. That glittering promise of human connectivity endures decades later. I see the dedication and teamwork in the doctors, nurses, and administrators working hard to save my and our lives. 

Before departing Colorado, I wandered Aspen galleries, still processing the intense experience. One painting captured the week's essence - Monolith by Corky Dean. The triangles reminded me of the mountains my family visited yearly when we lived in Texas. Once my father's company was purchased, we moved to Connecticut. The logistics of flying the five of us to Snowmass were expensive and pain since we had to travel during school vacations when everyone else was heading to the mountains. Around the time I went to Choate Rosemary Hall, my father sold the house. When I look at Monolith, I remember Christmas with family and friends in Colorado.