Dearest Pat,
The other day after reading your very moving post No More Room in the Bucket I kind of fell apart. Even though you had told me that you’d stopped treatment – and although I knew exactly what that meant – I guess a part of me just couldn’t accept it. It was only after reading your blog post (published on the same day I wrote here about still being NED) that it finally struck home. Especially when I read this bit…
“There is no more room in the bucket for big dreams like cross-country train trips. I feel a pang watching tv shows set in NYC, knowing that I’ll likely never visit my favorite city again. It aches to see puppies and kittens and know I’ll never own another one. I’ve never tasted foie gras, or truffles, or uni. I never got to visit the Food Network. I’ll never meet my friend Shawn in person or visit her in Seville, Spain.”
And well, I knew straight away that I had to take you out for tapas!
This video was made on the fly on Thursday with my poky pocket video cam and so my clips turned out pretty rough (one clip showing us having some grilled foie and tuna belly at La Azotea was unsalvageable, but oh well…). Luckily my friend Juan Tarquini not only offered to invite us for tapas at his fabulous Vineria San Telmo, he also very generously edited and polished all my rough cuts into something quite wonderful that I could never have done on my own. I hope it will make you smile.
Everyone really enjoyed meeting you and plying you with fabulous food and drink. It was actually quite an amazing day and I know you touched a lot of hearts here during your brief visit in Sevilla. You will always live in mine.
te quiero Amiga,
Shawn xx
For those of you who don’t already know, I met Pat Steer on the Colon Club forum just after being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, when all this was new to me and I was scared and looking for helpful information. Pat had been diagnosed four years before me. She became my sister, my friend, my hero. I love her with all my heart.
Four years ago today I wrote 
BIG surprise when I got a text message from Jessica asking if I’d be free for lunch today! Turns out she’s been in town doing research and, with that out of the way, she was free to play for an afternoon. We met early because I had to go to the hospital to get my chemo port flushed out and Jessica offered to come with me – nice! So we taxied there and back and then got caught in a massive downpour, ducking inside a cosy doorway just in time. I have to say it’s not everyone you can actually enjoy being trapped by the rain with. Finally we made it to our lunch destination – a new place called La Brunilda. Very nice kinda gourmet tapas but without the gourmet prices. In fact, I’ll be taking my tapas tour group there this evening for our last stop to see how well it works as another “less traditional” option (Jessica’s suggestion).
In the middle of a whirlwind week! Not only am I up to my eyeballs in tapas tours, but I’ve also got a lot of social media stuff on the go, as well as my own websites to keep up with and update. Then there are the day-to-day things to take care of, plus trying to get to the gym.
casa azahar 