11.29.2011

On Mortality

Yesterday morning, when I asked my boss how her holiday had been, she mentioned that her nephew had died. He was in his early 20s. Apparently, he had too much to drink on Thanksgiving, slept on his back, and choked to death on his vomit.

I wonder what it would be like to die in such a manner. Would you realize what was happening? Would it hurt? Would it be a peaceful way to go? Did he struggle? Could it have been prevented (other than the obvious of not over-imbibing)? What would it be like to just not wake up one morning?

This led me to thinking about mortality in general. Life is pretty fragile and can end at any moment. Everyone dies; no one is immune.

What happens next?

I, obviously, have no concrete answer for this. I could spout on about what religion has taught me or what I hope might happen.

But maybe a better topic for consideration is what happens to those left to grieve.

I'm not an expert. I can only share my experience.

I lost my mom suddenly when I was 17. She died in a tragic car accident. It was very sad.

And life changing.

Just like that my life changed completely and would never be the same.

Over time, the heartache lessened. I'm sure I experienced all the appropriate stages of grief. It will be 17 years this December. I still miss her a lot. She often appears in my dreams. Usually as someone who has come back to me, someone who faked her death. Perhaps that's weird. Maybe I haven't truly gotten to that Acceptance stage. I don't know.

Although these dreams are often troubling, they remind me of her and keep her close to my thoughts. I have many great memories of her that I will always cling to.

I will always love her.

Wow. This post took a totally different turn than what I had intended. That's OK, I suppose.

Perhaps this is more what I needed.

What are your thoughts on mortality? Have you lost someone close to you? How has loss affected you?

11.24.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #16 - Everything!

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Well, today is the day. Thanksgiving is finally here. There is so much to be thankful for today. Here are just a few things, as I run out the door to my parents' home for dinner.

  • Good food
  • Family
  • Friends
  • Gorgeous weather!!
  • A fun 5K this morning
  • My cutie-patootie little dog, Sallie (she's curled on my lap right now)
  • My awesome husband

Hope you all are enjoying a wonderful day full of love, friendship, and good food.

11.23.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #15 - Mixer

Today, I am grateful for my red KitchenAid mixer.

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I love the bold color!

I use it for almost all of my baking. I was asked to make dinner rolls for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, and my KitchenAid saved me from having to knead the dough by hand. Yeah!

The rolls are still baking, but hopefully I'll get a nice picture of them tomorrow.

What were you thankful for today?

11.22.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #14 - Unexpected

Today, I'm grateful for the unexpected.

source

I've been working as a temp at the same company for just over a year and a half. As a temp, I'm used to not getting paid for holidays and not having paid vacation time.

I'm used to not getting any of perks of regular employment.

So, imagine my surprise when I got into work this afternoon to receive an envelope from my boss. The company sent a letter to everyone one thanking them for their dedication and hard work.

The letter also included $50! Now, that was unexpected!

And naturally, I spent most of it after work at Target.

11.21.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #13 - Phew!

Sorry, I missed over a week of posting my daily gratitude. I should be better this week leading up to Thanksgiving.

Today, I am thankful to completing my MTLE.

Source

It was four intense exams.

My head was swirling after I finished.
Mostly I had a headache.
There was a bit of relief, but I think that won't really come until after I get the results in a few weeks.

If I don't pass, I probably won't be able to student teach.

I had to do a lot of guessing, but I'm hoping my guesses were at least mostly correct. :)

11.13.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #12 - Beauty

Today, I am grateful for beautiful places...

via StumbleUpon
And beautiful photography.

What were you grateful for today?

11.12.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #11 - Tomorrow

I've been having a bad day.

I played volleyball this morning. Not very well. I couldn't seem to line myself up under the ball and the floor was really slippery. Needless to say, it wasn't my best game ever.

I came home and went for a 10K run. It was very tiring.

Then I just couldn't seem to get motivated to do my loads of homework that I really needed to get done this weekend.

I took a nap instead.

And watched a bunch of TV with Sallie curled on my lap.

This is kind of a whiny post. Sorry.

So, today, I am grateful that tomorrow is another day.

via Pinterest
What were you thankful for today?

11.11.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #10 - Vets

I know I'm pretty late to the game, but today I'm grateful for all the soldiers who have fought for our country.

Especially my two brothers.

Corey, the marine.


Chris, the army national guard soldier



Today, Chris shipped out to Kuwait where he'll be supporting the troop withdrawals from Iraq.

Happy Veterans Day!

What were you grateful for today?

11.10.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #9 - Snowflakes

I'm not much of a fan of winter at all.

I dislike the cold,
the bare trees,
the late sunrise and early sunset.

I don't like to ski.

However, I do LOVE the snow.

I love to watch it peacefully fall around me.

And above all I love to run during a snowfall.
It's gorgeous.
It's peaceful.
It's quiet.
It's comforting.


Today I'm thankful for the tiniest of snowflakes that were falling when I went for my run. I wasn't really feeling the run, so these delightful little flakes really helped me get through it.

They were infrequent and barely visible, but it made me just a wee bit excited for the upcoming winter.

11.09.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #8 - Fall Leaves

Soon, all the leaves will be gone.

Today, I am grateful for the beautiful yellow colors right outside my front door.


Every day the temperature is getting colder. The leaves are quickly falling and soon they will be all gone, leaving the bare trees of winter.

So, today, I'm thankful for this last bit of color to make me smile.
Also, I love the crunchy sounds as I walk through a big pile of leaves.

What were you grateful for today?

11.08.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #7 - Custard-Filled Bismark

Yummy donut!
This morning I woke up to this gooey goodness waiting for me at my computer. It was delicious and a great start to my day (a little pre-run fuel).

Today, I'm thankful for my husband for thinking to bring me a morning treat. What a guy!

What are you thankful for today?

11.07.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #6 - SparkPeople

Today, I am grateful to have rediscovered SparkPeople. I was looking for some new exercises to do in the weight room to strengthen my core. A simple Google search reminded me that I had a great resource at my fingertips that I hadn't used in a very long time.


It's been months since I even looked at the site (yeah, I had to really think hard to even remember my user name), so I'd forgotten how useful it can be.

I even discovered today that they have developed a very handy app for my Android-based phone. Yay! Now I can bring my phone to the gym with me and actually record my sets/reps/weight without having to try and remember it on my own. I have a terrible memory when it comes to these things.

Right now, I'll probably concentrate on logging my workouts, but eventually I hope to get back to tracking my food, too.

Baby steps, right?

What were you thankful for today?

11.06.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #5 - Halloween Cheesecakes

Today, I'm thankful for how great my cheesecakes turned out!


We're having a Halloween party tonight at my parent's house Yes, I know Halloween was last week, but for the past few years we've celebrated at my parent's house the following Sunday, and I was asked to make a dessert. I hope these taste as yummy as they look.

What are you grateful for today?

11.05.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #4 - Creative Friends

I'm barely going to squeak this one out. :)

Today, I'm thankful for the creativity of others. I have a great friend who has wonderful card-making creativity skills. She makes all these fun designs, and I just have to show up, stamp, adhere, and give away.

Here are the cute cards I made today.


What were you grateful for today?

11.04.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #3 - Kleenex

Ugh.
I hate this time of the year.
Not the month of gratitude.
Or the holidays in general.
Not even the cold weather. (ok. that's kind of a lie. I do not like the cold weather. At all.)

For me, this is the beginning of the bloody nose season.

I've gotten spontaneous bloody noses most of my life, but they always seem to be worse at the season changes and worse still moving from fall to winter.

This morning's was bad.
Took me 20 minutes to finally get it to stop.

But it made me very grateful to have a box of Kleenex handy.

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So much nicer than using toilet paper.

What are you grateful for today?

11.03.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #2 - Hat

We've been very spoiled this fall. Gorgeous temps!

But I fear that is quickly coming to an end. It was barely 30°F when I went out running this morning. So, today, I am grateful for my new running hat.

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It kept my head and ears nice and toasty warm. Plus it's lightweight and thin enough that as it gets colder, I can easily add another hat and/or the hood of my jacket. Today I didn't wear a jacket, though - just this hat, a long-sleeved running shirt, long pants, and gloves. It was cold to start out, especially my face, but I warmed up nicely and was pretty hot when all was said and done.

What are you thankful for today?

11.02.2011

Thanksgiving 2011 #1 - The Gym

So, I'm starting this a day late, but here it is anyway. I'm going to try to post something that I'm grateful for everyday.

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This isn't a picture of my gym, but I'm sure grateful that my gym is right across this street. This means that my warm-up/cool-down are built in because of the sheer fact that I have to walk to get to the gym.

Perfect.

Also, it's super convenient now that the weather is getting much colder, and soon I'll be wimping out on running outside.

Tied into this, I'm grateful that I'm physically able to workout in the gym. I'm grateful that I don't have too many body image hang-ups that keep me from going to the gym. Of course, I haven't been very good about doing anything other than cardio for months. This week, I decided to change that and have visited the long neglected weight room twice this week.

It. Felt. Good.

What are you grateful for today?

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