The Dopey… Sort Of

The Dopey… Sort Of

I’m doing a marathon. And a half marathon. And a 10 K and a 5 K. But I promise, I’m not crazy. I have chosen to register for the Virtual Dopey Challenge through RunDisney this year to celebrate how far I’ve come. I had surgery almost two years ago to recreate a left foot that…

The Running Decade

I ran my first ever 5K TEN YEARS AGO TODAY. Ten. Years. Ago. Ten years of entry fees and finish lines and medals and training miles and ever evolving chafing solutions. Ten years of strength and perseverance and runner’s highs and tearful miles. Well, eight years of that. I haven’t been able to run for…

Forty, and Snotty, and Surviving

I turned forty a few weeks ago and had an unexpected birthday guest, Covid. The very first thing I did on my birthday was wake up with a fever and chills and confirm that Rona got me. I had done so well avoiding the plague for 2.5 years, but my winning streak came to an…

The Daily Slog

The Daily Slog

I’ve decided slog is one of my new favorite words. It describes life better than most as it brings the imagery of sludge, drudgery, challenges, and weights. That’s life. That’s not all life is, but it certainly includes a large amount of slog. But acknowledging the slog helps me stay in the madness and not…

Trash

Trash

Sometimes life is trash. Grief, loss, pain, disappointment and blocked goals abound throughout our time on earth. We’ve all dealt with some level of them and all will deal with more before our time here is done. If you have read this blog for any amount of time, you’ve journeyed through my valley alongside me.…

Warmth

Warmth

Gather round, all, and I shall tell you a tale called “Warmth.” It began innocently enough with an alligator cleverly disguised as one of our NICU babies. As this alligator began to gator roll, he dislodged his feeding tube. This change was unbeknownst to me, as I was more concerned about keeping his body safe,…

Kenny’s First Birthday

Kenny’s First Birthday

You may consider it weird that I took a day off of work to celebrate the “birth” of my bionic foot. Kenny was the chosen name of the cadaver bone that now resides in my heel. This once-patella-now-calcaneus wedge of bone is having a second life… and so am I. My foot was irrevocably shifted…

Humbling & Healing

Humbling & Healing

If I had to summarize my experience in 2021, it would be both humbling and healing. I was humbled in ways I have never been before. Post reconstructive surgery, I needed help to drive, to get to appointments, to shower, to wash my clothes, and to remember what day it was. I am fiercely independent…

Merit Badges

Merit Badges

2021 was not my best year ever. But I ended it better than it started… and slowly my playfulness is returning. I decided that if life was going to be this challenging and require this much work, I should at least have something to show for it. So I started earning Adulthood Merit Badges. I…