Anxiety

Yup, anxiety.  Everyone has it at some point or another.  And we all handle it differently.  My son and I tend to get that sick feeling in the pit of our stomachs.  My daughter, well, she just gets mean! 

And she showed us today.  She is going to volleyball camp this week.  She’s never been to this facility before and she won’t know any of the campers.  I understand the anxiety.  At her age I would have been sick as a dog in that situation.  I saw it coming too.  She couldn’t fall to sleep last night staying up until after midnight and then waking again at 4am.  She’s tired.  She’s anxious.  She’s CRABBY!!! 

Please God, help her to enjoy the day, make new friends, sleep well tonight and have a better attitude tomorrow!!

Courage

Today, I attended a party for an awesome woman, Paulla. We had tons of great food, lots of wonderful gifts and beautiful music provided by most talented coworkers whom I had no idea could sing. I didn't want to go but I did and in the end I was glad I did because Paulla had a wonderful time.

You see, Paulla has cancer. She was diagnosed with breast cancer about 2 yrs ago. Breast cancer was prevalent in her family history so she opted for a double mastectomy and chemotherapy in the hopes it would keep her cancer-free. It did not. About a year later, cancer was found in other organs and she underwent more chemotherapy and once again she thought she had beaten the monster. But, once again, she had not.

Today, Paulla is fighting her toughest battle and most likely her last. Today, she spent a wonderful afternoon with great friends who love her and support her. Tomorrow, she goes to get a catheter inserted to deliver the chemotherapy directly to the cancer that lies in the lining of her brain. The prognosis for this type of cancer is generally about 6 months.

I have no idea what I would do in her shoes. But I DO know that Paulla has done. Paulla has embraced life. She continues to live her life to it's fullest. She and her daughter who is studying to be a nurse went to New Orleans last week. They walked all over the French Quarter. They learned to cook cajun dishes. Paulla told us she will continue to come in to work for 2hrs a day and work 4hrs at home throughout this ordeal. Paulla has not once felt sorry for herself. She is always positive. She's always smiling. She is one of the most courageous people I know.

Please keep Paulla and her daughter Annie in your thoughts and prayers.

Make Your Own Weather

I've been making changes in my life. I'm making a concerted effort to be more positive--focusing on the things over which I have control--basically ME. I have spent too long listening to the negative voices in my head and their impact on my life and the lives of my family is no longer acceptable. I had let my Faith fall and forgotten to hand it all up to God.

Stephen Covey says you must make your own weather. Each and every day, I have the choice to find the bright spots, the Sunny spots 0r to dwell on the dark things, the Clouds. I've seen how staying positive and in control of my emotions can influence how my day goes with my family, my friends and, well basically everything.

So to celebrate and commit to this new approach to my life where I strive to promote the positive and silence those negative voices, I am changing the name of my blog to Sunny, With a Chance... As we make our own weather, each day has the chance to be a great day and with God's help, it will be.

Angels

I have experienced the guardianship of angels before. There were the Angels who guided my brother and husband back to shore when they were caught in a rip tide at the beach.

There was the Angel who held my 16mo old daughter when she fell down the stairs so that she only had a carpet burn on her little nose.

There was the Angel who moved the truck my husband and son were riding in off the road keeping them from being hit head on and the Angel in the car with that driver who protected him as his car flipped end over end.

There was the Angel that slowed the deer that ran into our van a couple of months ago so that it hit the front fender instead of us hitting it head on.

And there was the Angel that grabbed my steering wheel last night as I swerved to avoid some trash in the road who maintained control of my van back to protect my children and me.

Yes, I believe there are Angels among us—each and every day.

The Last Lecture

If you haven't heard "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, professor at Carnegie Mellon University, please take some time and watch this. Below is Randy's appearance on Oprah where he gave a condensed version. You can see his full lecture here. Randy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2006. He defied the odds and survived much longer than expected. Randy passed away on July 25, 2008. He was 47. He is survived by a wife and three small children. His "last lecture" is really to his children......to teach them all the things he has learned about life and how to live it to it's fullest. I am sure they will know how great a man their father was.

One of my favorite of Randy's quotes is this:

"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something."

My thoughts and prayers go to Randy's family. Rest in Peace, Randy.

Angels Among Us

My cell phone rang just as I saw the stopped traffic ahead. Hubby and Scott had left for skating a few minutes before us so he must be calling to warn me about an accident. His voice is very stressed and he is out of breath. "Hey, let me get to the top of the hill" "Are you OK????" The line went dead. Now, I'm concerned. Was he in an accident? I'm getting closer to the accident site now. It must have just happened. No emergency responders are there yet. I try to call him back without success.

I see the car involved in the accident. It's totalled. At first I think it must have been rear-ended but as I get closer, I see that it obviously has rolled many times. I frantically search the sides of the road and the embankments for Hubby's red truck but I don't see it. I call again and get through but it's a dead signal area so the call keeps breaking up. Finally we get to talk. They are fine but he is extremely shaken. We meet up just up the road and I hug Hubby and Scott hard and try not to cry.

A car in front of Hubby had crossed the center line. The oncoming car veered off the road on the right to miss it and lost control. He then swerved back onto the road and was headed directly at Hubby. Hubby jerked the truck off the road onto a steep drop embankment to avoid him. The oncoming car then totally lost control and rolled several times. Hubby said he watched it in the rear view mirror. Miraculously, the other driver crawled out of the car on his own although after seeing the car, I don't know how. He did appear to be injured but not seriously. I asked Hubby how close was the car to him when he veered off the road. "About a foot, I just knew he had hit us but he didn't". Luckily, Scott really didn't know what had happened so he wasn't too upset. Hubby was visibly shaken but he is OK now.

I do believe in angels. There had to have been an angel in each car today. One angel was in Hubby's truck to help him steer off the road at the last second. The other angel was in the other car and wrapped it's wings around the driver to protect him. I don't see how anyone would have survived, except by the Grace of God. Thanks to God for protecting my family.