Celebrate

Making New Bonds

Last week today my brother John proposed to his girlfriend Kris!  (great name, right)  We met up with them the next day for lunch to be with them and congratulate them.  There is nothing quite like being with a couple after they have just gotten engaged, especially one that you care about so much.  They are so happy and we are all just thrilled.  They are planning something roughly a year from now.  I don’t think I could ask for a better sister-in-law to be. (sniff)  Even though all that really matters is that the two of them are happy with each other.

 

She’s going to be a wonderful aunt too.

Making a New Life

This week my long time friend Kim (from high school), took a big step and bought her first “on her own” home.  She is starting over in life and making positive strides at every turn.  I’ve been a phone support for her as much as one can be over the last couple of years as she has gone through some real struggles and I am just so happy that she is growing as a person and moving on in her life.

Making a Journey

Jason’s brother Scott and his girlfriend Jen have taken a very long trip to Asia.  Just recently they have completed the Annapurna Circuit—a 21 day trek through the Annapurna region of the Himalayas.  If you’d like to read more about their very interesting trip, you can check it out here.

Getting Healthy

This past two weeks have been pretty excruciatingly painful and a little scary for me.  I had a side effect to an antibiotic I was taking for a skin problem around my eyes.  I woke up early Monday morning with a burning pain pulsating down my esophagus.  At first I thought it was my lungs, considering the problems I have had with them earlier this year.  But when I was awake and lucid I knew that wasn’t the case.  It felt like I was swallowing involuntarily and it was PAINFUL.  Like swallowing a mixture of dry ice and fire.  In addition to that, it was even more painful to try to eat.  If you’ve ever had a baby… it was equivalent to bad labor pains and quite similar in the nature of the pain.  24 hours after trying to get a hold of my doctor’s nurse, she returned my call to tell me to STOP taking the meds!  Even so, a day later I was in Immediate Care more than a little scared about what felt like my insides being ripped apart.  A confirmation that it was esophageal inflammation and spasms caused by the antibiotic I was on eased my fears, but didn’t do much for the pain.  Finally, after 11 days of major discomfort, yesterday the pain eased and I was able to swallow without having to hit something or cringe.  I am oh so happy and feeling celebratory that it is over and that it was indeed just a reaction and not a more serious internal problem.