Up-side...........

Hello Friends.

It has been a very busy and draining week, and I am beginning to feel the weight of it all. In addition to all the changes with my position at work,  Larry still has not found a job, my nephew Derrick has not been doing well, I am concerned about  my sister's biopsy results of  Adenocarcinoma of the Cecum (insert sad tearful emoji) please continue praying for her.  In addition to those already overwhelming life events I  also helped Allie get ready for the Costa Rica mission trip, and  struggling with one of those horrible summer colds that make you sound like a donkey when you cough, and do you know how hard it is to cough and NOT pee! To top it all off, I can't forget to mention the terribly failed attempt at an awesome new hair-do, your know what I mean, you keep trying to get it even on both sides and all you really end up doing is cutting too much hair, quite a bit shorter than originally planned. Needless to say I am considering the idea of making baseball caps more of a permanent accessory for a while. On the up-side, and there is ALWAYS an up-side, I am looking forward to the strengthening that should follow all these challenges since it has not yet killed me!

It's not all bad.  I have so thoroughly enjoyed reuniting with my friend Heather on our morning walks.  Heather has one of the sweetest and most beautiful spirits and when we get together to walk and talk its more like a mini vacation, several times a week. Don't get me wrong, we work up so much sweat, that between the two of us, could eliminate the rain deficits in the area. We normally spend about an hour walking and talking, and I always leaving feeling physically refreshed, despite the burning sensation in my eyes from all that sweat! Thankfully  I also leave feeling emotionally, mentally and spiritually refreshed. I love, love, love having friends that invest time getting to know me and me them, who speak into my life words of encouragement and never fail to offer grace and mercy. I have been truly blessed with some great friends.

I have been doing A LOT of exercising over the last 8 weeks and I have learned that as the age number goes up the ability to lose weight as I once did (many moons ago) goes down. I have no one to blame but myself. The interesting thing is how wonderful you feel when you eat better and engage in purposeful physical activity each day but then stop. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I know many of us are guilty of this cycle of self-defeating behaviors and there may even be "legitimate" excuses as to why we keep riding that roller coaster. Perhaps we are just insane, doing the same thing over and over and over again, expecting different results each time. Or maybe we suck with time management, or constantly place ourselves on the back burners of life for one reason or another, more like for one person or another or many in some of our cases. With all the "....lives matter" I wonder how many of us recognize that about ourselves? I don't want this to be one of the times that I put in all this work, only to find myself back in the same spot 6 months from now. I hope this time will be different.

Anyway, its 6:47 pm, on a Friday afternoon and I am not sure I will make it to 8, so I am gonna take a shower, put on some of my comfort clothes, curl up on the couch and probably fall to sleep. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and may you always be able to find the up-side of life!