Erin Zammett Ruddy is a seven-year survivor of chronic myelogenous leukemia and the author of the acclaimed book My So Called Normal Life, which was published by The Overlook Press in 2005. She has chronicled her battle with CML in the award-winning "Life with Cancer" column for Glamour Magazine, where she was an editor for eight years. Up until recently, she also wrote a daily blog on glamour.com that gave hope, laughs and support to thousands of young adults with cancer.
Erin is a frequent guest speaker and sits on the board of directors for both the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's New York City chapter and Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, founded by Denise Rich. She has raised tens of thousands of dollars for cancer research and has appeared on several television programs, including Nightline, The Today Show, Dateline and Good Morning America. The University of Tennessee graduate lives on Long Island with her husband and two children. She is a full-time freelance writer (her work has appeared in Glamour, Playboy, Modern Bride, Real Simple, Redbook, and Parenting). Her cancer remains in complete remission.
Yesterday marked 10 years since I was diagnosed with leukemia. When I heard the words “you have cancer” I was 23 and had simply gone to my regular doctor for a check-up. I wasn’t feeling sick at all, but a routine blood test revealed I had chronic myelogenous leukemia, a slow-moving form of blood cancer that traditional chemotherapy did little to stop.Read Full Post
Nick and I spent last weekend in Saint Petersburg, Florida for a friend’s wedding. We dropped the kids at my parents’ house on Thursday night and left our house at 5 a.m. Friday morning. We got back at 11a.m. Sunday. It was the longest we’d been away from our kids together in a long time and it was, in a word, fantastic.Read Full Post
Halfway through my night of trick or treating, I got the following text from a friend: “I think you should blog about Halloween etiquette. I have had exactly one kid who actually said trick or treat when I opened the door and one that said thank you. The rest just drive their hand into the bowl for a fistful and hightail it out while stepping on my mums. Humph!” Anyone else have this experience?Read Full Post
Sorry for the expletives, but I don’t really know how else to put it at this point. Because at this point I’ve tried giving Alex almost everything you can imagine and he continues to come home from school with a lunchbox that looks like a chipmunk snuck into it for about 30 seconds then got scared away (i.e., a few bites here, a few crumbs there). He’s now in his fourth week of school and every day continues to be a challenge. We have a few things working against us…Read Full Post
Let me preface this post by saying I am not pregnant nor planning to get pregnant. I got an IUD last week—that’s how not pregnant I want to be. But, as many of you know, no matter how many kids you have, people will ask: “You gonna have more?” Over the past 21 months (since Nora was born) my answer has gone from “probably” to “possibly” to “we’ll see” to, “maybe not” to, most recently, “%#! no.” That said, there are still some reasons I do want a third. Here goes:Read Full Post
I knew this day would come but I really thought it would be years from now. Alex wants to know how he got out of my belly and has brought it up every day for the past week (thankfully he hasn’t asked how he got in because I’m even less prepared to answer that q). The problem:Read Full Post
True story: The other day Alex and I were chatting and somehow the letter J came up so I casually asked, “What sound does the letter J make?” He thought for a minute, then looked me dead in the eye and said…….….“TV?” D’oh!Read Full Post
It’s been a rough time at the Ruddy house. The kids have morphed into the most concentrated versions of themselves, which is not a good thing. Alex and Nora are cute and sweet and polite and happy and funny and smart and a million other things that make me so proud to be their mom. But they are also WILD. I believe energetic or spirited is the PC way to say it, but the truth is, my kids are kind of kah-razy. Which amounts to my being embarrassed/exasperated/overwhelmed and just plain kah-razy much of the time lately.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, they both wake up at about 97 percent speed and are up to 100 percent by the time they lift their heads from the pillow. Alex walked into our room this morning at 7:20. This is a direct quote from him: “I don’t know what a fly boat is. What is a fly boat, mom? Dad, do you know what a fly boat is? Is it winter today? Can we stop by the Gonzos so I can say hi to my cousin Andrew?” I hadn’t even opened my eyes yet. The nonstop interrogation—it goes on all day— is not what bothers me, it’s the nonstop everything else that I’m finding hard to handle.
Alex started a brand-new, full-day pre-school yesterday. He couldn’t wait to get there and play with new toys and new friends. I, on the other hand, was anxious. Not because of the separation (he’s a pro) or the fact that my baby is now a big 4 year old, but because I wanted to make a good impression on his teachers. Which was a challenge. I had spent the entire weekend at my sister’s bachelorette party on Fire Island (see me striking a pose at the beach house, above) so needless to say, when Sunday evening rolled around and I rolled in, I wasn’t exactly on top of my game. Nick had taken Al to orientation Friday night while I was at my sister’s shower so post party weekend I was greeted with a giant folder of papers to be filled out and lists of which things gets labeled how and what, exactly, to pack “if you want your child to have a successful first week.” So much for watching the finale of Entourage.Read Full Post
Happy September, everyone! Hope you enjoyed your Labor Day weekends. Ours was awesome (the highlight: Alex’s 4th birthday complete with a 100-person bounce house party in our backyard). Needless to say, I am ready for fall. The back-to-school, back-reality-vibe of this time of year always inspires me to simplify my life and look for ways to be a saner person (this time of year also makes me want to buy Trapper Keepers and number 2 pencils but that’s a different story). Streamlining begins with our morning ritual, which is not so much a ritual but a sleepy, whiny free for all. The reason: Our kids are our alarm clock. This is not because they get up so early (they generally sleep till 7 or 7:30, which is totally acceptable), it’s because Nick and I like to sleep. And we both work from home/for ourselves so we’re not usually on anyone’s clock but our own. But when you have to start parenting before you even open your eyes, crazy town sets in fast….Read Full Post
