- We do still live with my Mom, and it's been a year. Limbs are in tact, and blood is scarce, so all is well.
- We indeed went to Disney, and our character immersion program was mildly successful. Our daughter fell in love with Sleeping Beauty, and now we own a great deal of princess stuff that we had never considered buying before the trip. I was lucky enough to find the $50 Sleeping Beauty costume for $7 at a consignment store for Halloween. If Kate wants you to close your eyes and say the magic words, you know the words are "Sleeping Beauty Magic." Tonight when I asked about about her birthday, coming up again in June, Disney was mentioned. A return trip will indeed be later, and once many a bill has been paid. Overall, the trip was a true treat for us, and the scrapbook is finished, but we still enjoy looking at it a great deal.
- Scott passed Greek! Yay! However, on the day he found out, we went out to dinner, then my Mom had a hypoglycemic seizure that night, so my celebrating continued via ambulance to the ER. Mom ended up being fine, and coming home that night. But as the fall progressed, she was diagnosed with bladder cancer in situ, and did a round of treatments, and had a crush on her urologist (who is younger than me. now HE can afford Disney). Oh yeah, in situ means it was on the surface. In two weeks, she has another biopsy to be sure the treatments worked. But we don't call it cancer, we say, "the bladder situation."
- Kate and I flew to Dayton, OH to see my pal Sheri, her husband Michael, and crew of four children -- three girls, one boy. It was FUN, and we even all made it to church. Unbelievable. Their basement was the envy of my girl, who played with every Dora toy ever made....and possibly, ever recalled. Just kidding. We also went to Greenville to see my other fine pal Kim and her kids, celebrating her boy's birthday at one of those jumping places that Kate adores. It was great fun, and Fudruckers afterwards did not disappoint.
- We were able to see our friend Roger Day in concert in Charlotte, and bought his new album "Dream Big." I just wrote the world album. I meant CD. I am aging myself in what I thought would be a very hip blog, and I just ruined it. Anyway, Roger is a long-time friend from my old campus activities days where he made his living as a coffeehouse musician, but is now turned children's performer, and he is fantastic. Scott and I watch Noggin or Disney (the TV channels) and complain that Roger would be much better than those on it......(pssst, I am not a big Laurie Berkner fan). My favorite song is "I like Yaks" because he talks about the Dalai Lama, whom I really like. Visit him (Roger) at RogerDay.com.
- Speaking of the Dalai Lama, I saw a documentary called "Ten Questions with the Dalai Lama" and loved it. He rings true with me, even from a Christian standpoint, and I think that is very cool. And he has a smile and laugh that is contagious. Now HE is very present.
- The Gamecocks did not really thrive this year, although we were number five in the nation in college football for about 15 minutes. My, what beautiful minutes those were.
- Our office hired two new fantastic staff members, and both of them eat chocolate. That is a very good sign.
- We had a lot of company this fall....in September, Mom turned 80, so my brother Mike, and Aunts Mai and Johnnie (all from TN) came for a visit, and at the end of that week (yes, seven days), my brother Danny flew in and surprised my Mom in the middle of the "ladies lunch" I hosted in our kitchen. She was VERY surprised. We were quite pleased with ourselves. In November, Cousin Laura from NYC visited, and brother Mike came back for Thanksgiving with Aunt Johnnie.....then in December, Mike returned.....and now it's February, and he is coming again, and Laura comes in March. We're very close to receiving the Bed and Breakfast license we've applied for.
- My dear friend Ali had a beautiful baby boy in December, but her dad is in hospice from a lung situation. It is very hard now, and Scott has enjoyed visiting with Mr. Joe a great deal, and just being present with the family. Ali and her sister Pam are precious daughters, and now, both are mothers. They are doing a super job at being caregivers too. We pray for them alot. And feed them too.
- Christmas came and left without great fanfare, and I still struggle with it amidst the commercialism. I did manage to do a bible study in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and I enjoyed that. I also taught Sunday School in November, which never feels like a chore.
- My birthday also came and left, but included Pasta Fresca, my favorite Italian food in a town with very little Italian offerings. And the cake from ColdStone Creamery was a solid example of what a wonderful husband I have. January also brought a move: our office moved from one building straight to another on our very historic and beautiful section of campus. The move was bittersweet, and sometimes bitter, but as we settle in, we settle down. My new office has a layout quite conducive to practicing yoga in the mornings, which I average 3x per week.
- Oh did I mention that my mental health has greatly improved! Over the holidays, my husband began to really cook dinner, and then agreed that since his schedule for the spring term would allow it -- that he would take Kate to school each morning. So, this change in my daily life has been staggeringly positive....I now have the mornings to do whatever I want: to have coffee at Starbucks, hit the gym, hit my desk very early, or practice yoga before work. I have done a little bit of each.
- Yoga. I resolved this year to become a serious student, a yogini of sorts.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogini). My goal was to practice each day, and I strive for that, knowing that yoga is not simply asana (the physical practice on the mat) but is also the way we live our lives (off the mat). With my newly-found morning time, I am working to practice my asana, but also to reflect, pray, read. Because I feel so very pressed for time (hard to find time to exercise and have a daily quiet time), I have combined them in my yoga. I am thrilled to take a two-day workshop with John Friend this March whose Anusara style yoga is what we practice at my studio. He's the guru. I will be in two classes on a Saturday, and two classes on a Sunday. I am thrilled; I am scared to death. I have never done that much yoga in such a short amount of time, so I look forward the challenge. I also took Kate to a kid's class at Yoga Day, held at our Senior Center, and she loved it. She is so well behaved in her yoga classes, which I think is the very point of taking her. It's good and centering, even for a 3.5 year old. I love my teacher, Stacey Millner Collins, who is the best example of setting intention and being present. When you speak with her, you feel like no one else in the world exists -- her words are meant only for you. It's an amazing quality I hope to cultivate. And I love my husband for supporting my practice 100%. It will be shocking when we get our first church, and I round up the little old ladies for yoga in the Fellowship Hall -- that is my goal, to bring yoga as a pathway to one's Christian life, since yoga is afterall not a religion, but a pathway to one's spiritual life, whatever that may be. AND, I am doing better at not killing small spiders, practicing ahimsa (non-violence), but this grace has not yet been extended to what we can Palmetto bugs.
I must turn in as our Breakfast Club families will arrive around 8 am......blessings and peace.
