Happy Birthday Goalielocks! Today you’re 14 years old and I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by. You’re a good egg and the perfect panacea to my bad days. As you grow older, may your heart stay big and loving and may your mind stay open and curious. Never stop challenging old assumptions or challenging yourself to be better, smarter and stronger than you are today.
“I never want this to go unsaid,
So here in this poem is for it to be said.
There are no words to express how much you mean to me,
A son like you, I thought could never be.
Because the day you were born, I just knew,
God sent me a blessing- and that was you.
For this I thank Him every day.
You are the true definition of a son, in every way.
It is because of you that my life has meaning.
Becoming a mom has shown me a new sense of being.
I want you to know that you were the purpose of my life,
Out of everything I did- it was you that I did right.
Always remember that I know how much you care,
I can tell by the relationship that we share.
For a son like you there could be no other,
And whether we are together or apart,
Please do not ever forget-
You will always have a piece of my heart.”
Run free, run wild and embrace the runner’s high. If you had asked me two and a half years ago if I was a runner, I would tell you that you’re the craziest person I had ever met. Don’t get me wrong, I love cardio and thoroughly enjoy teaching Zumba. Running, however, is an entirely different animal. By all means, running to me was an instrument of torture. And then came Debbie, an avid runner and health nut, who inspired me to become a runner.
When someone you love gets a horrible diagnosis, nothing you do to support them seems adequate. It just never seems like its enough. Nevertheless, Goalielocks, Jake and I started running 5ks for Debbie after our first Purple Stride. At each of these 5ks, we did 12 in 2016, we wore purple to support Debbie. Moreover, as a novice runner the purple was a reminder that many people are facing much harder obstacles than mile 3 of a 5K. She was and still is my inspiration when I run.
Consequently, Jake and I both ended up becoming accidental runners. If I’m being honest, I can’t say that I love running when mid-run. I can, however, say that I love the runner’s high . Moreover, I love that I have become something I never though was in my wheelhouse. Debbie inspired me to run. As a consequence, I found a new love while pushing myself to achieve something I didn’t think was possible.
Undoubtedly, Debbie was a good egg – the best. I miss her everyday although I’m positive she’s always on my run with me. Without fail I see a beautiful yellow swallowtail on every run as I get to Debbie’s neighborhood. Each time, this beautiful butterfly greets me and Athena as we push on from mile one and onto mile two. I know what you’re thinking and if it was at mile 4 or 5, then I’d probably agree that it was an apparition driven by exhaustion.
I ran tonight for the first time in weeks due to injuries and a cold. Overall, I’d say it went well given I’ve been battling a cold that’s been trying to work its way into my chest. Nonetheless, Athena and I hit the pavement tonight. There’s only two weeks left to the Purple Stride event and I need to be ready. As it stands right now, there’s no way I’ll be able to repeat last year’s somewhat respectable performance. Importantly, you can join our team or support us by clicking here. My goal is to have both the largest team and be the first place fundraising team.
Tonight’s song (hopefully will inspire you to donate or join our team) comes to us from Joe Cocker performing The Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friend.”
One of PanCan’s most powerful slogans is demand better. Demand better for patients and for survival. Pancreatic Cancer is now the 3rd leading cause of cancer related deaths in the U.S. By 2020, pancreatic cancer is forecasted to be the 2nd leading cause of cancer related deaths surpassing breast cancer. Meanwhile the 5 year survival rate for pancreatic cancer has increased from 7% to 8%. While the increase is welcome, the survival rate for pancreatic cancer is still way too low.
The diagnosis of pancreatic cancer to anyone’s friend or family member is horrifying. What I respected so much about Debbie is that she lived her life fully not allowing the disease to define her. I’m grateful to have had her in my life and for the example she set. Additionally, she was the epitome of grace under pressure. In the midst of her treatment, she was committed to making the future brighter for all pancreatic cancer patients. Our commitment to the cure steadfast driven by her absence, which is felt profoundly by all of us. I promised her that I would never give up the fight that I would always wage hope as her proxy.
Tonight I’d like to take you you back to the beginning of our story with John and Debbie as I continue my posts of gratitude. When we met John and Debbie, we were still playing rec league hockey up at skate zone in addition to travel. I know exactly what you’re thinking and you’re right. We were absolutely crazy back then. TK had just started skating and was an impressive player out of the gate. The hubby knew instantly that he needed to make the jump from rec to travel.
It wasn’t until our first year of peewee, however, that TK and Goalielock’s ended up on a team together. We had incredible group of kids, parents and coaches. To date, that season remains as one of my favorite and most memorable seasons. Debbie was our manager and as always was on top of everything. She did an incredible job! She organized our out of state tournament to Boston, which ended up being a magical albeit blizzard filled weekend.
For us, Boston almost didn’t happen. The year before Goalielocks’ peewee A season, we started our own business. It was a huge, scary leap for the hubby and I. The November of our peewee A season, hubby took a tennis ball to the eye in a freak accident that left him out of work for weeks. Can you imagine the stress? We had no employees, as finding qualified help in S. Florida is like finding a needle in a haystack, and the business was starting to gain momentum. Honestly, I was ready to put him in a bubble.
No sooner had he gone back to work when he had a run in with a SUV and an unscrupulous driver in our neighborhood. I’ll never forget when he called me from work to tell me he had broken his arm and he was driving to the doctor. He’s absolutely crazy and did in fact drive himself, with a major break to his dominant arm, to the urgent care. At the time, Jake was a sophomore in high school and not yet able to drive while the younger two were still in elementary. To complicate things further each of the boys was playing travel hockey at the time with scattered practice times all week long.
I met hubby at the urgent care where they had tried to convince him to take an ambulance to the hospital. There was no way my hubby was going to pay $500 for an ambulance ride 1.5 miles down the road to the hospital! I picked him and got him into the ER right away. Fortunately, the Bethesda West ER was incredible and took care of him immediately.
Hubby was in incredible pain and was having trouble recollecting what happened. There was no way I was comfortable leaving him in the ER. As this craziness was transpiring, our boys were still at school and After the Bell. Thank God for the John and Debbie! They had become neighbors when they moved into the Canyons a few months previously. John and Debbie were our knights in shining armor. They picked up the kids, fed them and even helped with homework. Honestly, I cannot tell you what we would have done without them that day.
While we were in the ER, it was determined that hubby would have to be admitted to the hospital. Moreover, he was scheduled to have major surgery on his arm the following morning. Hubby was getting some new hardware! When I went to pick the boys up from John and Debbie’s house, I was a hot mess. They were so kind. I left their house to bring the boys up to see the hubby in the hospital.
Fortunately, Hubby’s surgery went well. His blood pressure was quite low due to the morphine, so he wasn’t able to get out during the day. Once again John and Debbie came to the rescue taking care of our boys. Through the afternoon and early evening, his blood pressure stabilized and his pain became manageable. The doctor wrote the discharge orders with the caveat that he could urinate post surgery. Oh boy, the struggle was real. They brought him something he could use bedside, but he was having none of that.
He was finally able to go, so I started to help him un-tether the cords, unplug the IV and take off the blood pressure cuff. This created a problem as we were at a hospital that serves a largely geriatric population and therefore uses bed alarms. Long story short, as soon as I took up the blood pressure cuff, we set off a code blue. As I walked towards the door to see what all the commotion was, I quickly realized that we were the commotion and they, meaning all the doctors and nurses on duty, were coming for us as they responded to the code blue. I greeted them at the door to tell them he was simply trying to pee. The nurses laughed and apologized for forgetting to turn off the bed alarm. Thankfully, he was able to pee and he was discharged from the hospital.H
It was weeks before the hubby could drive again and my mom wasn’t able to come down until a week later. In the interim, John and Debbie were instrumental in helping us function as a normal family. They helped us with school and hockey. We couldn’t have done it without them and are forever grateful to them. While we were always at ready to return the favor, it was always a favor you didn’t want to return.
You never want your friends find themselves in a health emergency. I never in a million years thought that in less than six weeks, they’d need us just as we had needed them. I’ll never forget March 4th, 2015. I had caravanned up to Orlando for our employee roadshow where I was one of the presenters. This was my first time presenting to the group, so naturally I was petrified.
No sooner had we finished presenting, when I received a call from my hubby who was hysterical. I was petrified. Quickly, I walked out of the meeting room into the long windowed hallway that ran the length of the building. I thought something horrible happened to the kids while I was in Orlando, so I was terrified. Once he was able to collect himself, he told me that Debbie had been diagnosed with stage iv cancer. My heart stopped as I collapsed back against the wall falling to my knees as I began to cry.
At this time, they only knew that it was stage iv cancer and they needed our help. We were going to be there for them in anyway they needed nothing more had to be said. The “Meatloaf rule” went into full effect that day. Today I’m grateful for the beauty of friends that become family. For the type for friends that our always there at life’s lowest moments as well as life’s highest. By the way, John even helped the hubby regain strength with some intense weight exercises.
In sixteen days, we’ll be running the Broward Palm Beach Purple Stride event in Debbie’s honor. Please help us wage hope by joining us or donating to Team Deb Force Five.
I continue my days of gratitude posts today in honor of my friend Debbie. Today I am grateful for the time were able to spend with Debbie and her family. Moreover, I’m grateful that we were able to help them in their time of need. When a friend is faced with a devastating diagnosis or prognosis, what we call the “Meatloaf rule” goes into effect. Meaning whatever you need, we’ll do. There’s no “but I won’t do that.”
Last March after Debbie had gone into hospice, we were helping clean and bleach the floor. She was going to hire something, but there was no need since we could all do it. Admittedly, we like to keep things light in our house and love making people smile and laugh. Naturally, we had to find a way to make them smile and laugh. Unfortunately, for all of them it resulted in a sight they cannot unsee.
As we prepared to drive over, the hubby took his battered pair of jeans and cut them off as high as they could go. Oh yeah, he made himself some daisy dukes. You should know that my hubby suffers from the disease no asatall. He proceed to put on the shortest pair of shorts I have ever seen and we drove over.
When we got to the house, we knocked lightly so as to not wake Debbie. John answered the door and Luke’s choice of wardrobe hit him like shock and awe. He was clearly transfixed and mesmerized by the sexiness of Luke’s legs. We entered the house and his family lost their ish. When Debbie had woken up from her nap and came downstairs, her reaction to hubby was priceless. She was laughing so hard, although I’m sure there was a shock and awe moment for her like John had experienced. Nevertheless, we had succeeded. Truly, you couldn’t help but laugh as you looked at my hubby in his sexy daisy dukes scrubbing the floor.
I’m so grateful that we were able to lighten the mood for awhile. I should say (allegedly) that the hubby did put on some basketball when he and John made a Home Depot. I can’t believe John wouldn’t want to be seen in public with the hubby in Daisy Dukes!
As a reminder, our Purple Stride event is only 17 days away and we have a big hill fundraising hill to climb. You can join our team or donate to the cause at Team Deb Force Five. Lastly, I’ll share a piece of advice I gave one of my kids tonight. Life is way too shorts to let squabbles or arguments simmer. As conflicts arise with people that matter, deal with them timely.
Tonight’s Song Disturbeds cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence.”
Love is stronger than cancer undoubtedly. It doesn’t always feel like that. Sometimes the pain that cancer has caused brings us to our knees, but that’s why awareness and advocacy are hugely important. Like most people, I wish I knew nothing about this insidious disease. Why? The only way you really learn about its devastating impact is when a friend or family member is diagnosed. Otherwise, the disease is a complete mystery. The battle, the fight for a cure for many of us is personal.
Today begins Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month here in the states. For us it will culminate at the Purple Stride event on November 19th. I’m a huge supporter of Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and their goal to double survival by 2020. Importantly, PANCAN is not only working towards a cure, they are a priceless resource to patients and families contending with the diagnosis. My friend Debbie was a huge proponent of the organization and spoke at last years Purple Stride about how their services helped her and her family.
For the last two year Debbie a fearless, courageous and incredibly strong women completed the Purple Stride 5K. She was in the middle of chemo for stage iv pancreatic cancer and she completed a 5K. Up until my first Purple Stride event, I didn’t think I could even run a mile let alone 3.1. Her strength was so inspiring to me that I took up running. I went on to complete 12 5Ks in 2016. She made me better in so may ways.
It breaks my heart to even think that she won’t be with us at this year’s Purple Stride. Her absence makes our mission that much more important. While Debbie is no longer her to champion the cause, we are and we will. Until there’s a cure, until another family doesn’t have to suffer through this horrible disease, we will keep on fighting. In her honor, I’ll be posting daily this month to help raise awareness and raise funds. Finally, one thing I learned from Debbie, and there were so many, was living in gratitude. Additionally, I’ll be including something that I’m thankful for in each of these posts.
You can help support the cause by joining or donating to our team here.
Guess what day it is! Not only is it hump day, we’re over half way there, it is National Eat Your Kid’s Halloween Candy Day. A little known holiday that’s a bit of mystery outside of the parenting circuit. Nevertheless, it is a very important one. As a parent, we’ve earned the right to pilfer their candy. If we left it to them, we’d only get the raisins, pencils or pennies. We can’t have that nonsense!
Back in my day, you hit the mother load when you got a full size candy bar in your bag. Oh how we have raise the bar! Goalielocks came home with several king sized bars last night. Could you have imagined that back in the 80s and 90s? If this seems excessive, it is. However, it does help mitigate the loss of candy to National Eat Your Kid’s Halloween Candy Day.
In order to mitigate the extra calories, I headed back to the Barre for more fun. It was another fabulous class. Truly, I can’t recommend Adam’s class highly enough. Let me tell you, Xtend Barre is a lot harder than it looks. I felt the first class for almost a week! You can imagine my horror when I got to class and the dreaded Bosu was back. Literally, the last time I did the class on the Bosu, I couldn’t laugh, sneeze, cough or move for like 5 days. It hurt my abs to simply exist.
Unfortunately, I’m battling a nasty cold. I am praying that I’m done with the coughing fits before the pan of tonight’s class hits my abs. Otherwise, sweet mother of Jesus, there will not be enough Aleve in the world to cure my ills. If I’m looking at the bright side, the good news is that class is superbly effective. I guess that’s what keeps bringing us all back now isn’t it.
Happy Halloween to all the ghosts and goblins in the blogosphere! I hope you had a delightfully ghoulish day and an equally fantastic night. I love the fun of Halloween. At work, there are several people that go all out with amazing costumes and creations. Unquestionably, I admire their creativity and bravery. Not only do they dress up, but these guys go into character. I mean, I can wear a costume, but it is tough to get into character.
One of my co-workers, our marketing guru, goes hog wild for Halloween. Every year he pulls off a wildly different and authentic costume. Last year, he was John Lennon. This year, he was the Godfather. As is the case every year, he absolutely nailed it! His officer was awesomely decorate with all the accouterments one would expect from the Don on the day of his daughter’s wedding. Twinkies, poker chips, beverages, music, playing cards and framed music. Everything about the execution, pun intended, of his character and his office was absolutely pitch perfect. Undoubtedly, he has inspired me and my leadership team to up our game next Halloween.
At Zumba, Halloween is always a fun week as I breakout Michael Jackon’s Thriller. The girls and I love dancing to a little MJ. It’s a nice change of pace from the usual Zumba music. Not to mention, its a bit nostalgic. I think we all remember when the Thriller video debuted. It was incredible. There’s nothing like it on MTV today, which is a shame.
Meanwhile on the home front, Jake’s spending his Halloween at work. Goalielocks went to a friend’s house for a party and trick or treating. Lastly, the Mayor reluctantly went trick or treating. I couldn’t believe he didn’t want to go! I remember growing up we’d go as far as we could to get as much candy as possible. It wasn’t always easy because the weather in Minnesota was bitterly cold and snowy. Nevertheless, we’d make my mom take us miles and miles. Halloween was all about getting the biggest candy hull possible. Apparently, that isn’t the case with today’s kids. If I were a kid now, I’d go to every house in my neighborhood not just our loop.
Lastly, as the trick or treaters wind down, we’ll start binge watching the second season of Stranger Things. Can I tell you how excited I am to be current on the “hot show?” I mean, we just finished “Big Love” like a year ago and that’s been off the air for over six years. Amazingly, the entire family is into this show. The hubby and I love it because it reminds us of the movies of our youth. It’s like the awesomeness of ET, Goonies, Stand By Me all in one. Not to mention the soundtrack is amazing. Moreover, the girl that plays Eleven is simply incredible. It is some of the best acting you’ll see bar none. She’s amazing! I won’t post spoilers here because that will ruin the fun for others. Meanwhile, I’m happy to be starting season 2 tonight.
Was there ever as doubt as to tonight’s music video? I thought not… Enjoy MJ’s epic Thriller
Winter fluff. I’m not talking about the white stuff, but rather the extra pounds one tends to gain during the winter season. Of course, this was normal living in Minnesota. Activity waned for me as the weather got colder outdoor. Fortunately, over-sized sweaters were the perfect way to cover up any extra weight.
Unfortunately, living in South Florida our winter consists of dips into the 40s. Most of the winter is comfortably warm and bikini season in unending. There’s rarely sweater weather here, so there’s no covering up any extra winter fluff. On the flip side, the weather here is perfect. Consequently, we can enjoy the great outdoors year round. Not surprisingly, running is a lot more pleasant when the temperatures are in the 70s not the high 90s. Running in triple digit heat indices, as you can imagine, is not nearly as much fun as it sounds.
The only the combination of lack of sweater weather and winter fluff are troublesome is around the holidays. Who wants to behave and eat well with all the holiday parties and dinners? Thanks, but no thanks! So how does on survive the holidays without putting on the fluff? I’m glad you asked. The key is moderation and exercise. Sadly, diet is 80% of the equation with exercises only making up 20%. This means you cannot completely correct all your food indiscretions with exercise.
Where does this leave you? Comprising. If you’re at a party, enjoy the food, but skip seconds. If you’re drinking, opt for a drink (like a vodka soda) that is low in calories. My drink of choice is a peach pear LaCroix with a shot of Peach Ciroc on the ice. Its refreshing, its light and its low calorie. Plus, Circoc is very smooth. In addition, add in some extra workouts as this will help mitigate some of the extra calories.
In honor of the start of the holiday season, let’s kick it back to 2001 with Pink’s Get the Party Started
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all others.” – Cicero. I drove to the rink to watch my youngest play to hockey games today with a heart full of gratitude. First of all, the game was at home – a total godsend. Secondly, there’s nothing better than watching your kid play the game they love. No matter how we hockey parents feel, we’re still gonna show up at the rink to watch our kids. It didn’t hurt, of course, that they won both games. Excitedly, the Mayor had the game wining goal in the 2nd game.
Yesterday, during the torrential rains of Tropical Storm Philippe, Goalielocks and I went to Dick’s and PetSmart. While driving to the store, we started talking about the current state of youth sports. For instance, when I was growing up most kids played multiple sports. In contrast, today’s kids are specializing in one sport by age 12. Moreover, the cost to play for today’s kids has become astronomical. In order to stay competitive, many kids play on tournament teams, attend clinics, take private lessons and go to camps. This, however, comes with an extremely colossal price tag that puts youth sports out of reach for many. This was mind blowing to Goalielocks. As we drove home last night, I think Goalielocks understood how lucky he’s been having played travel hockey since 2011.
My heart is full with gratitude for the boys’ opportunity to play hockey. Our boys have been playing travel hockey since 2011. In the year since, we’ve had incredible experiences with their teams. Moreover, the boys had the fantastic opportunity to travel with their teams to Boston, Minnesota, Ottawa, Washington D.C., and Quebec. This season we will be travelling to Chicago, Atlanta and Boston. Needless to say my boys’ are extremely excited for these trips.
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There are many things that fill my heart with gratitude, but none more than the incredible people in my life. From my parents and in-laws, to my brothers, my hockey family, my friends and my work squad, I am lucky to be surrounded by incredible people that make my heart sing.
