Category: Thankfulness

Vacation…

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We’ve been on Christmas Vacation. My daughter got off the week before me, my husband’s vacation started on Christmas Eve but now they are back to school and work today and I have another seven days off. I smartly or stupidly, I can’t decide which, scheduled a lot of health appointments and check ups for this week. Right now as I’m looking at the schedule I’m leaning toward stupidly, but I did try to make time to meet up with a friend or two here or there, so we’ll see how that turns out.

Since my last post we’ve had sweet Emily’s memorial service. My daughter sang at the funeral Mass and I wonder how she found the courage to sing, I wasn’t asked, but I’m not sure I could have even if I was. She sang well. It was a lovely service for a beautiful lady. I’ve always found comfort in the funeral Mass, probably because I’m Roman Catholic and the service is familiar, giving room to the grieving to do just that, grieve, while reminding us, Emily is not far or absent, just part of the “invisible”. That’s not always great comfort at 2:00AM when you wake up missing someone or anticipating a loss, but in the moment it provides a space to think about your own mortality, what kind of life you want to live and the ultimate goal, heaven.

I have so many people now to reunite with in heaven. Our Lauren Rose of course, my baby sister Tracy, my Dad and, now almost all his brothers and sisters, good friends, like Hector who we lost last year, Great-Grandma’s Doris and Lana(who Laina is named for) and, Great-Grandpa Floyd, my own grandparents, one who I only know by pictures and the other who I vaguely remember, but the memory is not a happy one, the list is growing. I had a friend who said her Grandmother once told her, if you live to be old enough you will know more people one day in heaven than on earth. I think her Grandma is right and I don’t always like it.

It’s been a rough Fall and, I have found myself holding onto God’s promises tightly, even while my brain fights me, especially it seems around 2:00AM. Maybe a believer isn’t supposed to admit they struggle at times but I do and I think Jesus knew we would or he wouldn’t have put all His promises in writing and surrounded us with people whose faith at times is stronger than our own.

Still, in the midst of all the sad, we have life to look forward to I suppose. Track season is coming up and I love to watch our daughter run fast, she’s pretty good at it and has found more success in track than cross country. I’ve always thought running provides us with the opportunity to train our minds to be mentally tough and theoretically that should help with life, though it doesn’t always. I was glad when she decided she would try out a track group called the Flyers when she was in 6th grade and she enjoyed it, so we stuck with track and it’s been fun to watch her set goals and most of the time achieve them. God has surrounded her with many good coaches who love Him and as my goal for our daughter has always been heaven and not a career or things, I’ve been pleased and thankful with the adults God has placed in her life.

The second semester of the school year will start Monday for me and I hope to see all my students back safe and sound. I hope they’ve had a restful vacation and I hope they are ready to learn some more Chemistry. We’ll see, quite often it seems I’m the most excited one in the room. It makes me wonder if Jesus ever felt like I do sometimes. I kind of don’t think so because He is Jesus, but I feel badly if He did! Some days I’m really excited to share a lesson or something I found out or learned with the kids and they are NOT as excited as I am. In fact, they are clearly elsewhere, listening to music with their ear pods hidden under their hair or cap or sneaking peaks at their phone every time it buzzes and as a teacher you can get to feeling pretty ignored. I wonder if Jesus ever felt or feels ignored, like I do in class some days. It’s a lonely sad feeling, so I hope not. We can look to the bible to find out if Jesus every felt like I do sometimes. When Jesus was about to die on the cross before he died he called out, in a loud voice, “Eli Eli lama sabachtani” translated, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

When I googled the word forsaken, AI said forsaken means, “to be abandoned, deserted, or left completely alone. To be deprived of another person or let down when you are in need.” If Jesus felt forsaken on the cross, maybe I’m wrong and He does know exactly how it feels to be ignored by a class full of teenagers or when I’m awake at 2AM pondering a future only He can see? Yeah, I’m wrong, but it doesn’t always feel like I’m wrong. So I love that Jesus left us His book, with all its stories that point to Him and with his teachings to remind us of His love.

A friend told me my words sounded heavy. Another friend recently told me I seemed weary and I am. The weight of my responsibilities sits heavily upon me some days and I am weary of all the sad, so tired. Deaths, illnesses, now these fires in LA, for some reason, ever since Covid, at least for me, it seems a constant stream of loss or tragedy after another, but as Peter said, “to where will I go, you have the words of everlasting life.” I’m holding on tight to those promises and I think of JJ Hellers song, Your Hands.

“I have unanswered prayers, I have trouble wish wasn’t there, and I have asked a thousand ways that you would take my pain away.

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crooked lie, Oh Lord, before these feet of mine, Oh Lord, before these feet of mine.

When my world is shaking, heaven stands
When my heart is breaking
I never leave your hands”

So my vacation is over in three days and I’ll be back to shining my light best I can. Break was filled with it all this year, sad, happy, regretful, anxious, weary, heavy thoughts. The waves seem to be crashing all around me, like the day we went for a drive to our favorite beach and they were wild and so tall, ready to sweep away anyone who wasn’t paying attention, but…

“What can make me whole again? Nothing by the blood of Jesus.”

For me there’s no other answer, there’s no other place to go, but Jesus and so today…

for Jesus, my brother, God, my Father and the Holy Spirit, my counselor…I Give Thanks!

We ran the Jingle Bell Run during break and our long run is back down to 4miles currently, due to a few reasons, that’s my update on that, we are planning on doing a 5K in a week that I’ve never run before so hopefully that will be fun. KOR

Crazy waves…
Fun New Years Eve game…I lost 😦
Our zoo as Baby Meerkats!
Beautiful hikes!
Visit down south…

Her name is Emily…

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I met Emily when I met my friend Tina. Emily is her Mom, but over the years Emily has become a loved member of our family.

Emily has been in hospice for a few months now and it seems she’ll be headed home soon.

I have many happy memories with Emily, baking Empanadas with her and my daughter. Listening to her stories and listening to her be upset about things. Listening to her talk about her flowers and plants. Eating her food! If you went to visit she would always feed you, whether you wanted to eat or not.

Emily has been a good friend to my Mom, especially since my Dad’s been gone.

Some people you wish would live with you forever. I don’t want her to leave us. She’s 98, such a long beautiful life but things are a bit rough for her here at the end. I hope God takes her peacefully into His light.

She has the best hugs in the world, and she loves like Jesus. I see Jesus in Emily.

I love you Emily and we will miss you so very much.

Today for Emily…I Give Thanks!

Seasons…

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We don’t seem to get a “real” fall season. I’m not actually really sure we ever did. I’ve lived here my whole life. I have no real desire to ever leave, even though I find the traffic increasingly annoying and the people I’m surrounded by annoying as well. I shouldn’t say that and it’s not totally true, but I’ve got to say somewhere around Covid it feels like people went crazy. They were less considerate, more rushed and it doesn’t seem like its returned back to 2019 levels or that it ever will. Rush…rush…rush…

Anyway, our “Fall” comes really late in November these days. We haven’t had any significant rainfall in awhile and temperatures stayed in the high 90’s well into October. I don’t care for fall as noted in a previous post, it’s full of sad memories, mostly of loss and for whatever reason that doesn’t seem to be stopping.

My uncle passed earlier in the month. I’m imagining him with my Aunt and my Dad but in reality I’m not real sure how heaven works or if he’s there yet. You know us Catholics, we believe in a thing called Purgatory. I hope he’s in heaven with all the saints.

We have some new seasons approaching in our family. Our daughter is about to graduate high school in a few months. Transitions can be hard for her. I pray that she will be ok and trust in the knowledge that whatever God has planned for her next season of life it is good and for his glory. I think it’s hard for teenagers to think about being part of somebody else’s plan, they can be focused on themselves. I know our daughter loves Jesus. I know she questions and sometimes feels far away from him but I hope she knows that Jesus is always near. I hope when she looks around and sees a beautiful blue sky, beautiful fall leaves, the colors of a rainbow after a storm, a smile from an unexpected person, or someone with a hug to share or a word of encouragement that it’s all from Jesus. We just don’t always “feel” it how we think we should.

My husband and I will face a new season too. Less time shuttling our daughter around, cheering her on at events, yelling her name, and watching her proudly from the sidelines. What will we do? What will I do with the extra time? I’m not sure yet. Sometimes, I’m overwhelmed with sadness at the thought, well, to be honest, most of the time I’m overwhelmed with sadness at the thought. I can only go and sit at the cafe and write so often, lol, maybe more music, and more reading but I so enjoy when she shares her day with me. I love to hear about the “dramas” of the day, what she did in the choir or how practice went. My husband says not to worry, she will still talk with us but “I know it will be different,” I tell him. He usually responds, “Don’t worry about something that hasn’t happened yet.” “I know, I know,” I say unconvinced that all my worst fears won’t come true, that she just won’t need me anymore. “She still needs you now,” he says. “I know, I know,” I say.

The seasons are starting to change. Fall is turning to Winter, and there will be snow this weekend in our mountains, a lot of it I heard on the news this morning. The seasons of our life are changing too and at times they are stormy and scary and things feel like they are being tossed all around and other times like today, they are bright with a beautiful blue sky and wisps of white clouds being pushed by the wind. The fall leaves blowing in the breeze in all their autumn glory, browns, reds, golds dancing in the sunshine.

I don’t know what Winter will bring. I don’t know what the next seasons of our lives will bring but I have thoroughly enjoyed raising our daughter. I have enjoyed all of it, every minute, maybe not the anxious moments but even those can teach us things.

I can’t always be thankful for the changing seasons or not knowing what’s next, but I can be thankful for the present moment, so I’ll try to stay there more often, instead of running ahead to a future only God knows.

For today, and also for cappuccino’s…I Give Thanks!

Running update…running the Turkey Trot next week, hopefully we’ll be healthy and it will be fun. KOR

Fall colors
Enjoying a Fall morning at my favorite cafe.

All Souls Day…

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My Uncle Eddie passed away this past Saturday. Coincidentally, Saturday was All Souls Day. All Souls Day is a day Catholics take to remember All the Souls who have gone on before us. The day before All Souls Day is All Saints Day, when we celebrate the Saints, or as St. Paul called them, the “cloud of witnesses.” They are both beautiful days to celebrate.

Friday night we attended All Saints Day Mass and while I wanted to go to Mass on All Souls Day, because of our schedule, I kind of already knew I wouldn’t be able to do that.

I did make time to take my Dad some marigolds along with my sister, Jason’s Dad and my brother-in-law. We took some time to arrange the marigolds into a cross for my Dad’s grave and place marigolds around his headstone. All Souls Day coincides with the Mexican celebration of Day of the Dead and marigolds are what is often used to decorate the graves. It’s quite a beautiful site when you see it in person. I’ve come to find it very peaceful and soothing to spend time doing this on All Souls Day.

Other families place elaborate displays of marigolds, candles, favorite foods and drinks. You really can’t go anywhere in the cemetery without smelling the marigolds. Some families stay most of the day and have lunch or some have dinner and stay into the wee hours of the night.

When I took the flowers to my Dad my uncle popped into my mind. He had been on hospice care for a week by that point and I thought to God “All Souls Day would be a good day, don’t let him suffer too much and bring him peace.”

Around 9:30 that night I received word from my Aunt that my uncle had passed at around 8:30 PM. I was sad but also thought how strange it was that God did take him home on All Souls Day.

I asked my husband to take me back to the cemetery so I could see my Dad again. It was beautifully peaceful, some families still lingered by the graves of their loved ones and there were candles lit and stories being told, some laughter could be heard and music. Some may find it hard to believe that a cemetery at nearly midnight could feel so peaceful and calm. Looking up at the sky the stars shone brightly as the moons light scattered and reflected off a smattering of clouds that had gathered. As we walked back to our car I missed my uncle, my Dad, our Lauren Rose, my sister, my other Aunts and Uncles all who lay to rest there in that cemetery and I wondered when my time would come, but mostly I remembered all the happy times before the sad.

My Uncle Eddie was always kind to me. I danced with him at my wedding and while I didn’t see him often, I always enjoyed listening to his stories and listening to him, my Dad and Aunt talk and laugh. His back yard was so fun to run around. He created a roadway of sorts with road signs and a mini trail for my cousin to ride his bike. I remember parties on his patio and playing with my cousin, one sleepover and thinking his house was fancy. I will miss him and now there’s only one sister left from all my Aunts and Uncles that I grew up with. It feels sad to have almost all of them gone.

I loved my Uncle and my Uncle loved Jesus and so I expect to see him again, along with my Dad, Aunts, our Lauren Rose, my sister and dear friends who’ve passed in the last few years and until then I’ll hold onto the promise Jesus made, when he said “And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it [on] the last day.” John6:39

I can’t be thankful that people I love are gone but as I said previously I can always be thankful for Jesus.

For my Jesus, whose gave His Life that we could live forever with him one day…I Give thanks!

My Dad
My Sister
Many beautiful displays to honor and remember their loved ones…

Antibiotics…

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Today I am thankful for antibiotics! Somehow, apparently I caught strep throat, I’m guessing at school. I got sick the day before my birthday, October 15th. A friend of ours had told us awhile back if we had a sore throat to take some Advil, so I took Advil and figured since it felt better I was fine. After about a week I felt ok-ish, but then last week my daughter was complaining she was sick and her throat really hurt. I offered several times to make her a doctors appointment, however she wouldn’t agree to go to one until the third day she was sick. Off we went to the Urgent Care because her doctor was booked and surprised she was when she tested positive for strep! Fast forward to this week and my husband starts feeling sick yesterday. Since our daughter has strep I convinced him not to wait and to go in to check, Bingo! He tested positive for strep. We went to go get some soup after his test and he asked how I was feeling and I said that I was still feeling tired and on the sick side and then he said, “Maybe we should get you checked to”, so off I went back to the Urgent Care and viola after telling the doctor I just wanted to make sure I didn’t have it, he said, “Well I’m sorry but you tested positive.” I said, “Are you sure, I got sick two weeks ago and I feel mostly better.” He said, ” You might have gotten better but then since you never took antibiotics, you probably re-infected yourself with your toothbrush or it just came back around to you after your daughter got sick.” So today, I’m thankful for something called a z-pack, because I’m actually allergic to the antibiotic most commonly given to treat strep, penicillin and all it’s relatives.

I’m also thankful to report that our family member actually woke up from her coma! Praise be Jesus Christ, she woke up! She is home and recovering from her ordeal, a little on the wobbly side but it is a far cry from being on life support and being declared basically brain dead. Miracles still happen and I’m glad one happened for her, it makes me happy. Though sometimes, part of me wonders why for some people and not others, not us, but that is not for us to “reason why” it would just drive me crazy if I even tried. So I’m thankful for big miracles today!

Nice weather. The weather has been so nice, not too hot, not too cold. I can still wear a t-shirt if I want to or put on a sweatshirt if I want to and it’s crisp and chilly in the morning for our runs, my favorite weather for running. The sky is blue with little white wisps of cloud floating around. There may be something blowing in our way and this time of year, rain is always nice too!

So today for antibiotics, miracles, and nice weather…I Give Thanks!

Ran yesterday but not today, for some reason my body did not want to rise and go for a run, but hopefully tomorrow. Signing up for our annual Turkey Trot today, so that will be a fun run to look forward to, our long run Saturday was 5miles because I have been sick, but that’s ok, well get back to it…KOR

Fall

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Phew…this has been an interesting fall so far….

Fall is not my favorite season, it’s not a hated season either, it just seems if something is going to go wrong in my world, it always goes wrong in Fall. Big things, little things…ALL the things.

Our good friend Emily, like a Great-Grandma to Laina, a Grandma to us is in hospice. She is 98 years old and just wish she would fall asleep and wake up in heaven, but she’s going through some suffering before she leaves this world of ours and it hurts my heart, especially for her daughter. Her daughter is Laina’s God-Mother, sweet lady who I met many years ago through my own mom and now she’s part of our family 🙂

My uncle, who is 82, has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon and Liver cancer. The primary source was the Colon. He’s done one chemo treatment, ended up in rehab because he was in hospital so long he was weak and having trouble walking but he should be coming home this Wednesday and then back to Chemo. We will see how it goes. He was always kind to me and I hope he doesn’t suffer too much.

My sister-in-law’s mother is in ICU in a medically induced coma because she is having seizures that won’t stop. They had to move her up to Sacramento because they couldn’t help her at the hospital she was in. After just speaking with my brother, my sister-in-law’s Mama seems to be on her way from this world, please bring peace and comfort to her family.

My Dad passed away on September 19th, 2020. My Aunt, his sister, one of my very favorites, a big part of our family, passed away September 9th, 2022. Our baby daughter, Lauren Rose, went to heaven on October 23rd. As you can see Fall is not and has not been kind. I don’t look forward to Fall. I was even sick for my birthday this year! I should have stayed home sick but went to work because I only have so much sick leave and I want to save it so I can attend our daughter’s events. Sigh…

Despite all these sad things, I do try to look at the blessings. The weather is getting cooler and the mornings are like I like them, crisp and pleasant. My brother and sister called to wish me a Happy Birthday, and so did my Mom, and while my students did not know it was my birthday they were good taht day! Pumpkins! I love pumpkins, they are fun to decorate with and look for in a pumpkin patch which we’ve done a few times. Fairs, I enjoy the fairs, in the Fall, visiting the exhibits and seeing the animals, eating the food! Cross Country! My daughter is on her school team and I enjoy watching her run, going to meets, and cheering her on to be her best. Fall concerts for choir. My daughter is in her school’s Chamber Choir and man they are a beautiful choir, so nice to sit and listen to them sing God’s praises on a weekday night. Sunday brunch with family, a long-standing tradition, continues. What a blessing to see my brother, sister, nieces, and nephews almost every Sunday! Time spent with family is a treasure to be sure. We were able to drive down to the coast this past Saturday and it was a beautiful day. Playing frisbee on the beach with my love so fun! Attending Mass at St. Angela’s in PG is always a treat, even if we can never manage to attend their SAMDAG fundraiser, it’s fun to hear about it every year around this time.

I’m not really sure if the good things outweigh the bad things or if I’m seeing it all wrong. I’m sure it’s the latter. Do you ever wish God would just give you a little glimpse to see how it’s all going to turn out? I do, a lot. So I try to turn to his word, it doesn’t always help but I try to remind myself of all His promises and even though that doesn’t always work and it doesn’t always fix the sadness, it’s what I have.

Jesus prays for us in John, Chapter 17. In verse 26 he says, “I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.” Jesus desires to be in us and with us, this is what He said. In verse 24 he says, “Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me. He called us his gift. In Mathew 28:20, Jesus says, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” He’s talking to his disciples in all these passages but He is also talking those who have been baptized in Christ, His beloved. One of my favorite passages in Matthew is Mathew 6:25 where Jesus talks about where to put our trust. He says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear.” Jesus doesn’t want us to worry, but to trust in Him, even when the outcome is uncertain and not what we ever wanted or hoped for.

“Oh my sweet Jesus, hear my prayer to you this day, that you would be with all our loved ones and lead them home to you. If they must suffer, may it be short, and may we unite it to your suffering on the cross as we remember the life you gave for us. We don’t understand this life or where it leads and even when we think we do, we don’t see it all, please guard us from the evil one and keep us close to you always. Sweet Jesus, my brother and God my Father, never leave our side and bring us home to you when our race is run. Amen.”

For Jesus, I can always give thanks….

I’ve been sick. Running was going pretty good until a few weeks back, getting back to it, the schedule got thrown off, but we are still doing what we can when we can. Our long run right now is a pretty solid 6 miles, so hopeful to increase this as the weeks go by. Hoping to run a 5k sometime soon. KOR

My favorite spot to relax in God’s love…

A rainbow I saw that reminds me no matter the storms of life, God is always with me…

Falls…

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There are many different kinds of falls…

Falls from grace…

Falling off the wagon…

Falling water…

Falling in the literal sense of the word…

On the day of my 50th birthday, I did the latter. My husband and I were training for a half marathon in November and needed to get in a long run, I can’t remember how long now, so even though we had planned a trip out to Monterey for my birthday, on the morning of my birthday, we headed out to complete this run. Less than a mile from our house I tripped on the sidewalk and hit the ground hard, landing with my hand’s outstretched and I heard an ugly pop. It was not good. My hand immediately started swelling twice its size and in that moment I knew two things; first, I wasn’t going to Monterey for my 50th birthday, second, I wasn’t running a half marathon in November. Both were confirmed a few hours later after a visit to urgent care.

However, hand wrapped in a splint and wanting to salvage what I could of my 50th birthday I let my husband and daughter take me out to Casa De Fruta where we enjoyed the fall decorations and ate an early dinner. This was not what I had planned at all and I found myself for the first time that I could ever remember really really wishing I could go back in time and skip the run. That one run altered the plans I had for the next few months and even though it was awhile ago now, my hand still isn’t right. It hurts in cold weather and gets stiff in the morning, tired if I use it too much. My wedding ring didn’t fit for a year and the hand that was injured is still a little bit swollen at times.

When my daughter was little and fell, as little ones do, I’d tell her to get up, she’d be fine and she always was. Her skin tends to scar though so she has little marks here and there from some of her falls over the years. She now runs track and cross country.

In May, at the final track meet of the season, she fell. She fell in the 4X400. She was running as the anchor. She is fun to watch when she’s running well. She actually hadn’t been feeling well earlier that day but when she got that baton, she took off like a firework and was almost home about to give her final kick when she went down, along with a runner who had gotten too close. At first I didn’t know it was her, then I had two thoughts, Was she ok? What happened? My husband was the first to say it looked like the girl behind her clipped her. Mama Bear went into motion trying to get to my daughter but she was on the infield, luckily getting bandaged up with her coach. I asked her teammates whether or not they saw her get pushed, which was my initial concern. Finally, I was reunited with my daughter and asked her if she had been pushed and she said no, she felt her leg get kicked. When she fell, she fell mid-stride, so both her legs we up off the ground and with nothing to catch her she literally collapsed to the ground at near her top speed in a sickening plop. It’s hard to watch on video. She had several injuries, including at least one that wasn’t really apparent until a couple of weeks later when she tried to do a push-up and found she couldn’t. When she puts much pressure on the hand that hit first, the hand immediately is unhappy. She had cuts and an injury to her pelvis that still hurts nearly a month later. It was a hard fall. To add insult to injury the other runner didn’t go to check on her to see if she was ok, nor did she apologize. When mama bear wrote an email asking the principal to tell his coach to talk to his runner about checking on others, the coach apparently mentioned my daughter could have been blocking his runner from passing, like that would be a reason not to check on someone who was injured? The other girl was DQ’d so I doubt even he believed his own suggestion.

School districts are always afraid of law-suits, sadly. We are the farthest from those kind of people you could get. The other coach didn’t ask us about our daughter either, maybe he talked to our coaches? Maybe he didn’t realize the full extent of her injuries? Not sure, but I know one thing, when you cause an injury to another, even if it was an accident, you should always apologize and check on the person who was injured.

When she fell I hoped two things; that she was ok, that it wasn’t her fault. Our daughter is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. She is kind and loving. She almost always has a smile or a kind word for others and is genuine, even when others are rude, dismissive or just plain indifferent. Whether she’s singing in the choir or running with joy, or chatting with someone she’s met for the first time, her smile lights up a room. I think about Jesus telling his apostles they are the salt of the earth and light of the world in the gospel of Saint Matthew (5:14), our daughter is light. She has brought so much light to our lives. If the accident had been her fault, she would have had a difficult time with that. As it was she still felt badly that she had somehow let her teammates down. It was a bummer way to end her season.

She still smiled for pictures after. She still laughed and posed with her injuries with her coaches. It wasn’t until a few hours later and the next day that we realized she was a little more hurt than we hoped. She’s had two x-rays now for this injury, the last one just last week, for that hand that keeps hurting, the one she can’t do push-ups on, it’s not broken, worse she’s injured a ligament, those take longer to heal. She will be reminded of this fall every time that hand twinges or tweaks. She’ll recover but in the meantime, my heart hurts for her and my hand does too.

Chumbawamba in Tubthumping, says, “I get knocked down, but I get up again. You are never gonna keep me down.” Rocky says, “It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward.” There are a myriad of quotes about falling and getting back up again. I also think maybe sometimes people forget the other part, when you fall and get back up, you are changed. No one who falls is ever the same again. Whether it’s an injury that lingers or a memory that won’t leave you, you are never the same. It doesn’t matter if it’s a physical fall or a different type. Those clichés are supposed to be inspirational but where do they come from? Who provides the ultimate example of what you do when you fall? You can get back up but who are you now? How exactly do you move forward? No easy answers there, for anyone, I’m afraid and so I ask myself how did Jesus respond when he fell?

In my Catholic faith we have something called the Stations of the Cross. The Stations mark the journey of Jesus to his crucifixion. There are three falls. There are a total of 14 stations, at each station we remember and meditate on the journey of Jesus to the cross. Jesus falls for the first time in the 3rd station. We are encouraged to meditate on how Jesus continues to move forward, determined to carry out God’s plan for the salvation of the world. In the 7th station Jesus falls for the second time and we are encouraged to meditate on the sacrifice he is making for us. Finally, in the 9th station Jesus falls for the third time, weary and near death, our sweet Jesus gets back up and continues the Way of the Cross. We are encouraged to remember that he could have called out to his Father to ask for help but he accepted the Father’s plan. We are encouraged to remember we can’t travel the way forward without Jesus.

Can you be thankful for falls? I’m very thankful for Jesus, for his example of moving forward, even if it was to his death, in order to fulfill the Father’s plan. I mean who does that? Who would do that? Only someone who loved us more than life itself, Jesus. Falls can teach us and sure, most of the time people get back up. I got up and my daughter got back up and she even tried to keep running to the end of her race but when you get back up you aren’t the same as when you fell. You are either stronger and more determined that ever or you can end up regretful, sad and frozen in time. I want to always follow the example of Jesus and he promised that when you fall or when I fall He will always be right there by our side to help us move forward, we don’t have to do it alone and for that I can be grateful.

For the lessons falls teach us…I Give Thanks!

Running update: We have started our half marathon plan. I can’t say I’m 100% confident that we will be able to accomplish this goal but so far we’ve check all our runs off the training list. We are slow but we are moving forward.

Our skinny lazy river that we like to run by when there is water…we were on our way to this trail when I fell.
Our trail …

La Boulangerie…

On By runnergirl02In ThankfulnessLeave a comment

La Boulangerie is a little bistro where I live and I love it! A boulangerie is a bakery that specializes in bread, especially French style breads but from what I can tell they have every kind of bread, even Pan Dulce! My favorite is the Almond Croissant. Yummy!

I had never actually been here until last December 2023. In all my years of living and working here, for whatever reason it never occurred to me to walk in. If I’m totally honest, it looked a little ritzy, don’t know why I thought that, just did. Well I do know, but that’s a different post, maybe later. Anyway, since that day in December of 2023, it has become one of our favorite, lets sit and hang out places. I enjoy sitting outside on the patio or like today, inside by the big windows and starring outside, watching people come and go hearing the door open and close, watching the trees outside, today’s a little windy and so the leaves are rustling around with little drops of sunlight bouncing off them here and there. There’s ivy around the patio posts and all kinds of people to watch come and go and to wonder about. There is a crooked replica of the Eiffel Tower sparkling above one of the bakery cases that kind of makes me laugh and posters and pictures of other French cafes and bread around the walls. There’s old time jazz music playing, doesn’t seem particularly like French music but the kind you hear on period piece shows like When Calls the Heart, coming out of a phonograph while people waltz around. Old people, young people, groups of people and single people, of all races and I assume creeds having conversations or just sitting and enjoying a coffee and a treat. One lady we have seen the past two days sits in a corner with her magnifying glass and her puzzle and dictionary. She’s obviously a regular as every now and again someone will sit and chat with her and then she’ll be alone again and go back to her puzzle. I was thinking yesterday if I was alone but didn’t want to feel alone this café might be a pretty nice place to sit to do my puzzle and chat now and again, it’s that kind of place and today I am actually alone and it has been enjoyable to whittle away the morning here. It’s almost perfect except for the line! Sometimes there is no line but sometimes there is a really long line and if all you want is a coffee or iced tea the only real way to ensure you will get one is to get in the line.

I have actually been here everyday for the last three days counting today. My daughter and I usually need someplace to sit and spend a little time before her track practices on certain days and if she doesn’t have piano you’ll probably find us here, at least this week anyway. Today, this morning, I’m here again because of track, she has a meet. The League championships are today and so I took the day off school so I could go and cheer her and her team on to victory, which is usually measured in PR’s and sometimes a medal here or there.

I have had a thoroughly enjoyable morning with my almond milk cappuccino, breakfast sandwich and a couple of bites of an almond croissant. I am hopeful for the afternoon and eager to cheer for my daughter’s track team. It’s been a good day so far! Thinking on summer plans, writing in this journal, watching the blue sky through the trees, cars driving by and hoping the wind dies down before the track meet. I even got to read a few journals/blogs from other writers and I liked a few of them and a few I didn’t agree with at all but the writing was still good, even if the ideas were foreign to me. I also spent a bit of time missing a colleague from work who I recently found out passed away. His name was Patrick Casey, a wonderful English teacher who frequented this place, he was always kind to me, gave me some great advice on teaching once and I’ll miss running into him now and again. We weren’t particularly close, we talked here and there, but it’s sad to think he’s not here to run into anymore. You just think about things in a café like La Boulangerie because you actually have time to think about things, it’s that kind of place.

Anyway…so far today for La Boulangerie, my daughter having an early track meet, almond croissants and cappuccinos…I Give Thanks!

No running this AM but we ran yesterday AM and did stairs, hard run because I was tired but we got it done. KOR!

View from my window seat….

The crooked sparkly Eiffel Tower….

Birthdays

On By runnergirl02In Family, Food, Thankfulness1 Comment

I enjoy birthdays! Yesterday was my Mom’s birthday. My Mom has said that birthdays weren’t a big thing when she was growing up. My Mom has 5 sisters and 2 brothers. A brother and one sister have passed on now.

Growing up we celebrated birthdays with parties here and there. Most of the time, since my birthday was near the fair I was able to invite a friend or two and enjoy some time at the Fresno Fair. I can remember doing that at least twice. I had a big party for my 21st birthday. We had a DJ and it was a lot of fun. My Mom and my Nina made my favorite, Chicken Enchiladas, yum!

Today we celebrated my moms birthday with family and friends. I kind of invited more people than I thought, but Jason always says the more the merrier. We had a Berry Chantilly Cake! Have you ever had one? Go to Whole Foods and get a slice or even a whole cake, you won’t be disappointed 😉

My Mom seemed to have a nice time. I know she misses my Dad lots on days like her birthday. God was good to surround her with people who love her and who wanted her to have a nice day.

We celebrate lots of birthdays in my family and I love it. Birthdays mark time and provide a space for family and friends to come together to celebrate. When given the choice between a birthday party or a trip I almost always choose a party. I love my family. I love seeing them and celebrating happy days, like my birthday, with them.

I know not everyone celebrates birthdays with extended family and friends. Some people like to take a trip or enjoy a smaller gathering. I would challenge them/you if to consider what keeps families strong and together. It isn’t seeing each other twice a year, Christmas and Easter. It’s all the “little” opportunities to celebrate one another throughout the year. Birthdays for sure, but also graduations, baptisms, confirmations, First Communions, Weddings, anniversaries, Mothers’s Day, Father’s Day, Labor Day, 4th of July, so many excuses as the year ticks by to spend time with family and friends. Why wouldn’t anyone grab it?

It’s not guaranteed. Days aren’t guaranteed. No guarantee I’ll get another birthday or that my Mom will get another birthday or that anyone will get any other type of celebration. It could all be gone tomorrow, or the next day or in an hour. Birthdays are precious reminders of how short life is and that it should be celebrated!

So today for my Mom’s birthday…I give thanks!

We finally have picked a half marathon plan, for better or worse, just need to figure out when to start it…hoping my mile time will start dropping when we become more consistent…it takes grit to work your way back…I think we have it in us…I know we have it in us, hopefully God will grant us the gift of health so we can…Keep On Running….

My Mom’s Birthday Cake
Berry Chantilly …Yum!

October 23rd…

On By runnergirl02In ThankfulnessLeave a comment

Dates can be significant for good reasons, sad reasons and everything in between…

There’s a song by a favorite singer of ours called February 20th. It’s about the day the singers daughter asked Jesus to live in her heart. Three months later his little girl would be killed in a tragic accident caused by his own son. When I heard the news I left school early and went home to hug my little daughter who was 5 at the time. My daughter, like his, was adopted from China. The singer Steven Curtis Chapman had a small role in why we adopted from China and so I was so very sad for him and his family. It was a sad day, May 21st, 2008.

About a year later the artist released an album called, Beauty Will Rise. Early on I wondered if this loss would crush him and his family or if we’d even ever hear him sing again. The album answered that question. One of the songs is called Beauty will Rise, a lyric “out of these ashes Beauty will Rise.” The whole album spoke to me, helped me and it still does.

October 23rd, 2003, 20 years ago on this day, we lost our baby girl. Her name was Lauren Rose Penland. October is a hard month, so is September now, but October has always been an especially difficult month. Twenty years is a long time and at the same time not. The sadness is still there. The memories, terrible and vivid. It’s not a place to dwell for long, it’s a sad place, a dark place, a place void of hope or happiness, just dark. October 23rd, all the things I had planned were gone, just gone. No milestones, no graduations, holidays, no dancing with her Dad at her wedding, all gone, no hugs or kisses, an empty room, quiet, the door stayed closed for awhile.

I couldn’t sleep last night, some years are easier than others, this year not so easy. I see our daughter, her sister, celebrating all the milestones, navigating high school, sports, choir, driving, and I can’t help but wonder and wish that her sister was here to help her through these teenage years, or maybe they would be at odds, who knows? I’ll never know and that’s the hard part.

At first we took this day off but over the years it seemed harder to do, obligations, work usually or just wanting to stay busy, so today I went to school and taught and chatted with a couple of students who needed extra encouragement, called home to a few parents whose kids need to be talked to, went to a meeting that didn’t seem to have a point. I did all these things even though I really just wanted to stay home. I did them because I decided to ask God how he wanted to use me today, instead of living in my sadness and that is hard, living in my sadness is sometimes easier.

When I woke up this morning it was cloudy and gray. After school I ran around and did a few errands, nothing that really needed to be done, picked up my daughter, and headed to dinner with my Mom.

On our way home I remarked to my husband that the sun had come out, maybe I just noticed it and it had been out for awhile?

We saw a beautiful Sunset.

After dinner we helped a friend connect with another friend to pass along some treasured mementos that belonged to her Dad.

“This is not how is should be, this is not how it could be, but this is how it is, And Our God is in control…and we’ll sing Holy, Holy, Holy is our God..”

Today for beautiful Sunsets and songs that remind me…”Spring is Coming…” I Give Thanks!

No running today, back at it tomorrow…KOR