Life-y Life

Hello my friends. I am sitting down to write this post by Christmas tree light.

I think this is the earliest that I have ever put up my tree but it worked best from a timing/logistics standpoint. We are traveling for Thanksgiving and won’t get back until the Monday after. Finn will be with his dad for most of the next weekend I’ll be slammed with work so I thought it would be great to get it done this weekend while Finn was with me and I could arrive home to a decorated house after our trip!

(fleece footed jammies)

Can’t imagine decorating the tree without him although there was one section of the tree where all of the ornaments were all clumped together. 🙂

Last tree-related news…I got a new artificial tree this year and after a whole lot of fluffing, I’m loving it for the price! For my whole life I had always die hard team real tree. It’s what I grew up with and chose for my whole adult life…until I became a single mom.

Because simple, doable and accessible were everything as a new mom doing things on my own, I bought my first artificial tree. While I do miss the look and smell of a real tree, this is what works best for us in this season of life!

Okay, enough Christmas tree talk. I have been mostly absent from this space for the last couple of weeks because we’ve been in “just keep swimming” mode. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was sick for a few weeks with an URI that I couldn’t kick. I did finally kick it but right around that time Benji went down.

It is a great mystery what exactly Benji did to his face but he came to me one morning with a huge gash down his face (our best guess is that he got it caught on some wire fencing but I truly don’t know). I rushed him to the vet and they cleaned it up and stapled it. Long story short, the staples didn’t hold so he had laceration repair surgery a few days later and has looked like Frankenstein these last couple of weeks. The great news is that everything is healing beautifully since surgery but it was a pretty traumatizing series of events for anxious Benji. He was an absolute angel and rockstar while they were working on him, but had major fear about the vet by our third trip there in a week.

Next up, my mom was called for an unexpected visit to Duke after routine DNA testing that they’ve been doing to monitor for signs of rejection came back with concerning results. Her team wanted to see her in clinic for x-rays, pulmonary function testing, labs and a bronchoscopy procedure.

I’m happy to report that the results of the x-rays, PFTs and bronch were clear for infection and rejection but it was a very stressful few weeks of unknowns for all of us. At this point, the biggest issues we are dealing with are kidney disease due to the medications she takes to protect her lungs, chronic pain and significant neurological side effects caused by her meds (headaches, trouble finding words, brain fog, etc). It was both a reassuring and tough visit all at the same time. We are thankful for healthy lungs but navigating a whole other set of challenges alongside it that are a direct result of transplant and keeping her lungs well. It’s a lot.

My mom flew in to Charlotte last week and I took her to Duke for clinic. She’s back home in Charlotte with me now and we’ll all fly back to Florida together for Thanksgiving.

In other news, I was so honored to partner with intuitive energy healer Dana Childs to lead a deep stretch and healing meditation event this past Friday night. I led a 60 minute deep stretch and then Dana guided us through the most beautiful 30 minute healing meditation. I was grateful that we had one no show so that I could jump in to do the meditation with our participants. It was everything. I wish I had a recording of it because I’d listen over and over and over again. So powerful. Dana is living in Denver, CO these days but we will be partnering again when she’s back in Charlotte.

I ran eight miles on Saturday. My longest run since being sick and missing the half and it felt really, really good. I’d still love to get a half in sometime in the next couple of months. I’m not done with these long runs quite yet.

I pushed this guy in the stroller for the first 5.7 miles and then ran the last 2.3 on my own. Let me tell you – that’s the way to make the last few miles of a long run feel easy! It felt like I was flying after dropping the stroller at home. Since my mom was here I gave Finn the option to stay home or run with me – and he picked the stroller! I know it might be a stretch for some to relate to this with kiddos who don’t tolerate the stroller well or who are as big as Finn and it doesn’t seem like they’d want to/possible to push them…but I think Finn and I have been at this for so long that he truly likes running with me. I am really looking forward to the day when we get to run/race together! 🙂

And with that I am saying GOODNIGHT! It’s 11p and I have a packed day of personal training and yoga tomorrow. Cramming a whole lot into two days and then we’re off to Florida for five nights! 🙂

QUESTIONS 

Real or artificial tree? 

When do you put yours up? 

Any winter races on your calendar?