Good Bye Charleston

Our trip to Charleston has ended and we have arrived home safely.  The trip across the eastern states was a beautiful portrait of spring.  Everything was many shades of green, lavender, and white.  As I arrived at home, I was surprised to see that my phlox have bloomed in the last five days. All the hosta and bushes are growing  Laney greeted us at the door with her tail wagging and her exciting four step, as she ran back and forth between my husband and I.  She was very happy to see us and we were equally excited to see her.  I miss her dearly every time we travel.

The four days in Charleston were beautiful.  We had warm weather and sunshine everyday.  I got to wear flip flops and shorts.  That amazing beautiful weather has come to an end.  We arrived home to rain, but the rain is making everything grow and bloom here at home.  God knows just what to do to bring life and beauty to the earth.  Everything outside looks a bright vibrant green color.  I think everyone would agree that we are really appreciating the beauty of spring after our long harsh winter.

Our trip to Charleston included eating southern food.  I so miss my mother and grandmother's cooking.  They were of course true southern ladies and they knew how to cook great southern food. Even though I love to cook, I just can't duplicate some of the delicious food my mother would cook.  We tried a new restaurant each day we were there.  I say they were all good in their own unique way.  Hats off to Poogan's Porch for the best buttermilk biscuits and buttermilk crusted fried chicken.

We toured the inside of two mansions while in Charleston.  There is a lot of  history dating back to the 1700's.  It is amazing that the homes have been taken care of and survived the Civil War, and a couple of hurricanes.  You feel like you have stepped back in time.   The tour guides were excellent.  Our trip came to an end with a walking tour through the streets in Charleston to view all the historic mansions.  Every visit I make to Charleston I discover something new.  Next trip I hope to view the  museum district.

My heart goes out to the people who lost family and loved ones in the devastating tornadoes that have happened in the last few days.  We escaped that bad weather on our trip home.  This evening storms moved around us and the high winds have moved off to the east.  I'm sending prayers for all who have been affected by the violent storms.

Life is beautiful !!

Elizabeth

Live Your Dreams

Over the last several years life has brought some unexpected twist and turns.  It has made my husband and I live everyday to the fullest.  Sometimes we feel that there is no time to plan, because we never know what will happen tomorrow.  All of us should live with the attitude of filling each day with joy and adventure.  As I rest my tired body each night, I fall asleep with thoughts of what new adventure I will awake to next.

A lot of nights I fall asleep thinking about places I love.  Charleston South Carolina is one of my favorite places to dream about.  After the first visit I ever took there, I fell in love with the southern charm and beauty.  I love the south and the warm hospitality of the people.  There is a lot of history in   Charleston,  good food,  shopping, and of course flowers and palm trees.

I am so glad my husband loves the spontaneity of my adventures I dream about.  He loves living on the spur of the moment.  I am a lucky lady.  As I close my eyes tonight and think of Charleston, maybe my dream will come true.  Wait a minute that was my dream the other night.  I just pinched myself,  because I am in Charleston.  I am living my dream and my adventurous husband is right next to me.  Thank you my husband for living on the spur of the moment.  I love you and life is beautiful!

 Good night Charleston, see you in the morning.  Hope everyone's dreams come true.  The best adventures are the ones you don't plan.

 Life is beautiful !!

Elizabeth

Happy Easter

We were graced today with what could be described as a picture perfect Easter Sunday.  We awoke to a beautiful blue sky with a few white fluffy clouds and lots of sunshine.  This has been a wonderful gift from God after the winter that we had.  People were out everywhere enjoying the beauty of spring.  There are some daffodils that survived our cold spell last week and the tulips are now blooming.  Everything is coming alive and the weather forecast is showing warm temperatures that are here to stay.

We spent the morning with our family which was a great start to this beautiful day.  Then we all departed and went our separate ways to enjoy every minute of the great weather.  My husband and I had our first bike ride of the season on the bike path in Yellow Springs.  It was nice to see everything budding and blooming.  The birds were chirping their little hearts out.  We finished with a long walk in town and ended it with ice cream from the famous Young's dairy farm. 

It has been a wonderful day and we have enjoyed every minute of it.  When my head hits the pillow tonight, there will be sweet dreams of this glorious day.  Hope wherever you are you have enjoyed this day.  We hope for many more to come. 

Life is beautiful !!

Elizabeth

Please Support Cancer Patients

The cold weather has decided to run off to somewhere else and the air is starting to warm again.  Unfortunately the hard freeze we had yesterday morning made the daffodils say goodbye until next year.  The trees are finally getting some leaves and other foliage is staring to bud.  It is finally looking like we have come alive again.  Laney and I will definitely go for a walk outside today.  We need to enjoy the sunshine, as the rain moves into tomorrow.

I am going to try and share an important link from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Hope everyone will support it. http://bit.ly/1mERpRh

Thank you for everything you do to support cancer patients and their families – yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Scott Riccio
Office of Public Policy
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Life is beautiful !!


Elizabeth

What Season Is It ?

I awoke this morning to find myself  buried under blankets and Laney snuggled right next to me.  I peeped my head out from under the covers and it was very cold in the room.   I looked up to see if there were ice cycles hanging from the ceiling. LOL!  In about a 24 hour period the temperature went from 80 degrees down to 28 degrees.  I looked out the window and said," yuck".  There it was again a winter wonderland.   It looked like there was about two inches of the white fluffy snow on the ground.  The only good thing was the beautiful sunshine.  The high today is suppose to be 39 degrees.  The weather station was predicting wind chills in the twenties.  Thank goodness I didn't pack away the winter coat. What happened to spring, baseball and fun in the sun?

It is hard to believe that over the weekend we were out working in the yard getting our flower beds ready for beautiful flowers.  I planted pansies in pots for the front porch.  Thank goodness I brought them inside last night.  We actually mowed the grass for the first time and visited with neighbors who we had not seen all winter.  Everybody was outside enjoying  a preview of spring and today everyone has retreated back into their caves. LOL!  It is suppose to warm back up by the end of the week.  

Laney was in  shock as I opened the door this morning to let her out.  She did not want to go out, so I had to chase her in the house and pick her up and put her out.  She is so spoiled and loves the comfort of the house.  

I am sitting here smiling, as I am waiting for a phone call from my husband.  I know the first thing out of his mouth will be that the house felt like a meat locker this morning.  I am laughing because I had turned on the air conditioner this weekend, as the upstairs was very hot.  So, as the temperatures fell last night the heat did not come on.  It was a balmy 59 degrees this morning in the house.  I'll remind him that at least it was warmer in the house than outside.  LOL!  I have to admit that it is cold and the furnace is now on.  

I just heard that there will be a hard freeze tonight.  So we can kiss the spring flowers goodbye and only hope that this was the last of the snow.  Where did you go spring?  Please come back and stay awhile.  Hope everyone has a blessed day no matter what season it is.

Life is beautiful !!

Elizabeth

Go Reds

Yesterday was one of the warmest days we have had for awhile.  It made it to 72 degrees, but was very windy. The best part of the day of course was the sunshine.  Rain moved in last night and thankfully it has left and now we have sunshine.  I hoping we will continue to have a nice evening for some fun.  Yeah it is TGIF!

We are off to watch the Reds play the Rays this weekend.  You know spring is here when you can go to the ballgame.  I remember when my children were young it was always exciting to take them to the game.  We would always stand at the gates and get autographs of the players as they exited the ballpark.  That was years ago before they built the new stadium.  My children loved showing off their ball caps that the players had signed.  Now days there is so much security it is not easy to autographs.

Baseball is the one thing that keeps the family together.  My dad reminded us daily of the countdown to opening day at the Reds.  I don't think he misses any games.  He and my son are number one fans.  My son got the honor a couple of years ago to throw out first pitch.  I think he breathes, eats and sleeps baseball. Now if I could only get him as enthusiastic about some other things in life. LOL!

So, let the fun begin and pray for a win for the Reds!  I'll wave to you Dad as you watch from the comfort of your home. I love you!  Go REDS!

Life is beautiful !!

Elizabeth

You Can Help Yourself

The sun is out for the second day in a row.  Yesterday was a beautiful warm spring day that brought everyone out of their homes.  I could hear the soft echoes of hallelujah, as people were enjoying spring.  I have finally seen daffodils and tulips blooming.  Yes, we finally have some flowers to admire.

I was thinking about how this spring reminds me that life is always renewing itself.  We have the ability to make changes to renew our life and spirit. Sometimes changes are not without challenge, but we reflect back and we see that if relationships are not working we need to let go and move on. I was reminded yesterday, as I had lunch with friends, of a doctor back in 1998 that told me I had no right to be depressed or upset about my husband's cancer diagnosis.  He told me I didn't have cancer and I should be ashamed of myself.  I carried that around for along time.  He is same doctor that told my dad your wife is old and she is going to die.  He did not want to ease her pain or make her journey comfortable for her.   I remember my dad crying, and I immediately gave the doctor an earful.  We left his practice and never looked back.  It was the best thing we ever did, as years later he was arrested for harming his own family.

I recently read an article addressing the fact that when a patient gets a diagnosis of cancer their spouse, family, and friends are all mentally affected.  It reminded me of when a wife gets pregnant and the husband has morning sickness, or puts on some weight.  I laugh as I remember my husband on the day of our daughter's delivery.  He was exhausted, you would have thought he had given birth.  He told me he had to go home and go to bed and indeed he did.  I have reminded him that I have felt all of his pain with cancer. I think I had a lot of his side effects from chemo.  They are empathy effects.  We have them because we feel great anxiety over watching our loved one loose control of their life.  We are dealing with our own loss of how our life is changing, and we want so badly to stop the pain of our loved one.   It is an emotional roller coaster.  I am able to see now that there is no shame in feeling anxious or depressed.  It is the minds way of dealing with situational changes in our life.  I am so glad I let go of what that doctor said back in 1998, and I  thought enough of myself to find a doctor and therapist to help.

I hope that my own personal journey and strength to seek help to heal my mind will let other people see that is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of loving yourself enough to live a happy and fulfilling life.  We go to the doctor to heal our body and we must remember our minds are as equally important.   A healthy body needs a healthy mind.  Never give up on yourself.

I am off now to enjoy this beautiful day that God has graced us with.

Life is beautiful !!

Elizabeth

Finding Happiness and Peace and Coming Back to Life

Spring has slowly crept into our lives after what seemed to be the longest winter in history.  Today the temperatures are mild and it is raining.  We have had a lot of rain lately.  I guess it it safe to say April showers will bring May flowers.  The grass if finally starting to turn green.  I was wondering if we were destined to live in a land of dead shrubs and vegetation as winter had really taken its toll.

I decided it was a good day to stay inside and write.  My husband and I have been enjoying as much time outside as possible. We have been doing a lot of walking and enjoying watching life renew itself.  Spring is an amazing time of year.  We get to see everything come back to life.  And, I feel at this point we too are coming back to life. 

We attended the yearly Leukemia and Lymphoma conference on Saturday and met some wonderful doctors and patients.  I met a wife whose husband had just been diagnosed with lymphoma.  She was very overwhelmed and I could see the pain in her face.  I knew that pain, because I have been there.  I made a promise to myself the first of the year that with some small steps and determination I was going to end my pain. I was tired and mentally cooked.  I wanted to feel happy again and I needed to find the right people to guide me in the right direction. 

Those panic attacks that I have talked about before would not go away.  They had taken over my life, and I knew it was not time to give up on myself.  That's the gusto in me that my husband says he loves.  So, in January I drove through a snow storm for 30 miles and walked into a doctors office and said," I need help." And, I finally got a doctor to listen to me. It was time let go of doctors who did not care.  My blood pressure was very high and I felt like I had lost control of who I was.  I am very thankful for that day, as it has changed my life.  With the help of my therapist and the doctor I am much calmer these days and feel normal again.  I still have days that are challenging, but I know now that I have health professionals who can help me.

My husband surprised me that day in January, as I went to exit the doctor's office.  He was sitting in the waiting room.  He had come to support me and make sure I made it home safely.  It also changed his life, as he is now taking a more active part in his own health and finding people to help him.

My greatest advice to anyone dealing with a life threatening illnesses is find a doctor who is willing to listen.  You need a doctor that is willing not only to treat your illness, but help you manage the anxiety and pain that comes with it.  If they are unwilling to help by refering you to someone or asking you how they can help you, then you know it is time to walk away.  Life is too short  not to live in harmony and enjoy everyday.  Take care of yourself and remember you are the one who must never give up on yourself.

I love you always and forever my husband and of course, as I have learned from you.... I love me too!

Life is beautiful!!!

Elizabeth