Purses and Mammograms

So don't be alarmed.  I had to have a mammogram a few days ago, for something that we expected to turn out to be nothing, which it did.  This was my very first mammogram because I'm probably too young to be having them regularly.  Naturally, this caused a few observations on my part: 

1.  Mammograms are kind of freaky.  I mean, of course, I know you should have them yearly after you hit age 40, depending on your family's cancer history.  But nobody really tells you exactly what a mammogram is.  Or at least, either nobody told me, or I tuned it out a long time ago.   

2. No matter how convinced you are that that little something is going to be nothing, it's scary.  One little test could redefine your entire life.  It's weird that a moment such as that could be with a complete stranger in a little room, who keeps saying, "Now hold your breath for me." 

3.  Mammograms are seriously painful.  Nobody tells you that they're going to stick your breast on a machine and squeeze it to death.  Multiple times.  It hurts.  Seriously. 

4.  This is what women do.  Apparently, we have mammograms.  (Or at least we should).  As I sat in the little waiting area with my gown on and my cell phone off, my attention turned to the other women in the waiting room.  One woman complimented another women on her gigantic purse.  She had, in fact, been walking behind this women on the street admiring her purse.  Little did she know, they would end up sitting next to each other in the radiology clinic.  And then, a conversation started all about the purse, and how you can buy a base and then get different "shells" for them.  That women had an animal print cover on her purse - but she has many more at home.  Her favorite was called Cheryl, which was discontinued, but it's her first name as well.  It's burgundy. 

And this converation made me think about how amazing women really are.  I mean, we're all sitting in a room together, half-naked...about to take a very painful, potentially life-altering test.  And we can still talk about purses.  We can admire purses, we can talk about a deal, we can sell those purses as if it was our own business.  We can find community, no matter where we are or what we're doing. 

Amazing. 

If anyone's interested, I found the link to these purses. 

 http://www.michebag.com/ 

When I showed it to Laura at work without telling her why, she told me that they looked like purses for 40-year-old women. 

Which makes perfect sense.  : )