Tumble

I went out for the evening run on Saturday night. Generally my theory for running is to go just a tiny bit past the point that I begin to think I've used half of my energy resources... then I start wandering back toward home. Which is sort of what happened on Saturday ... except it was feeling so wonderful that on the way back, I decided to push just a bit farther and take a path through a park just for the heck of it. And then fell.

Now, you must understand ... it was just a fall. It was the same kind of fall that ordinary people have all the time in ordinary lives. There was a small ledge ... I decided to step down from it to another area I wanted to explore ... and the landing spot was significantly lower than I anticipated. It was dark. There were shadows. One of those moments when you turn around and look behind you and say "Wow, I didn't realize that step was that deep ... or shallow ... or whatever. Except instead of turning around, I sat up.

Now... you're probably sitting there thinking "Okay, so what does this have to do with MS?"

THAT part began when I got home. Let me point out that I fell ... wiped the blood ... used the light from my phone to do a summary parts check ... then got up, brushed off, and walked the rest of the two miles home. Clearly I was NOT at death's door. But when I walked through the door and my children got the first glance, you would have thought that I had been attacked by coyotes instead of a tumble in the gravel.

And now they've decided that I'm bordering into insanity. You see, I told them how good it felt to sometimes just be a normal person ... without a label ... taking a tumble.

Then ... just to spite the fates ... I ran again Sunday :)

"Tackle MS With Positive Thought"

Must read article... Tackle MS With Positive Thought

Inspiring and validating... go read it!

Just Because

Today is a day of thankfulness. I have projects to work on... submissions that finally passed scrutiny... kids being silly in the background. I'm blessed to work in an office space that makes me happy, full of favorite things. Yes, it's a girly room... but it's mine :) MS is quiet... blessedly quiet. So today, there are lots of smiles... and today my heart is happy... and today, when the word count is met... I'm going to celebrate... just because.

Guest Post

Guest post at CreatingAGoodLife.com this week ... please stop by and check it out. This is a great site put together by Sara and well worth the visit... excellent content on a variety of subjects.

Body and Soul

The quilt I snuggle beneath on cold and rainy days wraps me in the love and wisdom of decades of maternal warmth, stitched together with memory. It’s a simple cover, wrought of plain multi-color squares of fabric salvaged from countless sewing projects, no elaborate patterns or fancy needlework. The pink floral my mother wore for family photos in 1969, when my brother and I were tiny towheads with mischief twinkling in our eyes. The orange and white window-pane polyester earned my teen-age self a helping of my father’s rare discipline; you see, I insisted on wearing it adjusted to fit into the age of the mini skirt. The delicate aqua with rosebuds clothed four generations of women at a family gathering by the river, dresses crafted by my great-grandmother on a treadle machine.

Each square tells a different story, wakes a different memory, nurtures a smile or brings a tear… and warms me from the inside out… body and soul.