Happy Halloween

Brain Injury

Dear Shannon, please visit with Koji(pictured left with Jen) to learn which way a helmet should be worn. Actually, I think Shan wore it backwards on purpose. Or did she? I went to see the movie Wipe Out which documents the lives of three extreme athletes who each received a traumatic brain injury. I found myself seeing my clients instead of the faces of the athletes. After the movie, there was a panel discussion and a drawing for prizes which included helmets, goggles, headphones, and skateboards. I crossed my fingers as the first number was read and then I yelled thinking my friend had won only to see the guy in front of me retrieve his free ski passes. My heart beat faster and faster as more numbers were drawn and I imagined myself riding a bike with a brand new helmet. At the end of the night, Jen and Shan each went away with a free helmet while Bethany and I left empty handed.

Twins

I love these girls!

My friend Allison is in town for a few days and Meags and I were able to spend time with her and her twin girls Rosie and Evie. I think I better plan a trip to visit Ben, Allison, and the girls soon.

Welcome, Winter

Pumpkin Carving 2010

Tonight was the annual pumpkin carving party with Jamie and her family, but we missed having Nicole and Marvin in attendance. We watched football, ate dinner, and then the carving began. Jamie was pregnant last year and struggled with cutting the top of the pumpkin and put the blame on pregnancy brain. What's her excuse this year?


I decided to do a polka dot pumpkin. Easy, right? The pumpkin was looking great until I decided to slice my thumb. Jamie looked up as the knife entered and exited my thumb and ran to get a band-aid. I calmly went to the sink and used my 1st Aid certification skills to use in an effort to stop the bleeding. The MVP of the night was Super Glue for fixing the stem of my pumpkin and my finger.

I am becoming Martha Stewart

My friend Corrine is quite the crafter and I mentioned that I would like to make cards with her someday. Well, that someday was today. I thought we would ease into crafting but instead I jumped off a cliff into a pool of cardstock, glitter, and stamps. The star box craft did not turn out as planned, but I can make magnets with the best of them. As for cards, I do well with copying Corrine's design. I apologize in advance if any mutual friends get the same card from Corrine and myself.

On The Road Again

Sharon and I were on our way to dinner tonight when we saw this:

Yes, they are both in wheelchairs and she is helping push his wheelchair.

Life Changes Quickly

One afternoon in June, I was watching the news and saw a story about a car accident involving a pregnant woman and I remember thinking, "do I know anyone who is 7 1/2 months pregnant and drives a Subara?" I would soon remember as I received a call from a friend asking if I had heard about Corrine's car accident. A man had a heart attack and drifted into oncoming traffic and hit my friend head on. Her unborn child saved my friend's life but did not survive the accident.
As I have watched my friend and her family over the past few months, I have renewed faith in the goodness of people and the strength of the human soul. Corrine spent weeks and weeks in the hospital and then a rehabilitation center before going home less than a month ago.
When I visit Corrine, she always asks about my life and that of our other friends and wants to know of our happiness, trials, and day to day life. I know she has difficult days where she wonders why this happened to her, and yet her courage and determination in her healing has taught me much. I am blessed to call her friend.

This just in...

For the record, even with the worst start of a football season since 1973, I am and always will be a BYU fan. And yes, I bleed blue.

Carry on.

God is awake

"I was in so much pain that I didn't have any fight left in me. I let go and decided that whatever was going to happen, would happen. I knew the hospital could not help me and there was nothing left to do except wait. The pain was so unbearable. In the past, I would keep fighting but this time, it wasn't in me."

I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach as I heard these words and I was speechless and yet, I knew that for those words to have been spoken, the pain must have been worst than ever before. My first thoughts we selfish-"You must be around when I get married. You have to meet my children." Quickly my thoughts turned to outward and I forgot about my somewhat trivial concerns.

Watching a loved one live with an illness has changed me...hopefully for the better.

"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake."
Victor Hugo