Walk MS 2018...

Thanks to my adorable daughter, Dee, our family signed up for Walk MS: Salt Lake City this year, which happened to take place right in West Jordan at Veterans Memorial Park.  As our team captain she also recruited my hubby, Mike Jr, my mum and dad and Mike's mom, Lois to join us.  We all wore matching bright orange t-shirts, (that we made ourselves), with our team name, "Get off my nerves" plastered on the front. 

It was pretty moving to see how many groups of families and friends came out to support their loved ones.  Whereas at most walks or runs you wear a number on a bib, at this walk you wear a bib that says who you are walking for.  To say that it was emotional for me to watch my favorite peeps write my name on their bib and attach it to their shirts would be an understatement.  I felt very blessed.    

Walk MS isn't a long, exhausting walk.  You have to remember that families are walking with people in wheelchairs or with walkers, or with people like me whose legs often feel heavy like they're dragging tree trunks.  The entire walk was literally just a mile around the park, but it was honestly the most amazing mile I've ever walked.  To know that all these people were there just to support this cause that has recently become so important to our family was pretty overwhelming.

I am so grateful to all of the kind and generous people who donated to our team.  The money raised through this walk helps fund research and life-changing programs for people like me living with MS and it also helps provide a supportive community for us!  I honestly feel pretty lucky to be diagnosed with MS NOW rather than 10 years ago, because there are actually treatments available today where there weren't any before, and there is a real hope of finding a cure because of the wonderful people who support this kind of research.  This year the Salt Lake City walk alone has raised $109,376 so far and it's still climbing!  I just want to say, thank you. :)

What Made You Happy Today?

I saw this question on some website I was browsing this week and it made me stop and think.  One short, bad experience can ruin our mood for hours or days, but it works the same the other way around, doesn't it?  One GOOD experience can also RAISE our mood for hours or days if we let it.  I believe it's just all about our focus!

My mom told me that she once heard someone say:

"Are you really having a bad day?  Or did you just have five bad minutes and you're milking the hell out of it?"  

Funny, but so true, right?

After work today I decided to post this question on my instagram and facebook walls asking people to comment and tell me what made THEM happy today.  I wasn't sure that anyone would answer but I thought it would be fun to hear other peoples positive experiences if they would share... and you know what?  It WAS fun to hear and it put me in the best mood!  The answers varied from food and drinks to sleeping kids to outings in the beautiful weather to other people serving them to spending time with family, just to name a few... but reading every single response made me smile too. :)

Happiness, smiling, a positive attitude, whatever you want to call it... it's definitely contagious.  I sincerely love and appreciate good people who can put a smile on their face even in the face of adversity.  They inspire me.

What made you happy today? 

What would make me a better person?

This past Sunday was fast and testimony meeting at our church.  That means that anyone from the congregation can get up and share their testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I always love hearing from the little kids on these Sundays but this particular week was just plain awesome.  This cute little girl named Brooklynn got up in front of the entire ward and the first thing out of her mouth was: "I would like you all to think about what would make you a better person."

Her words hit me hard... hard enough that I grabbed my iPad and noted them immediately so I wouldn't forget her challenge.  I've been reflecting on her question the past few days and while the intent is definitely not to beat myself up over every single one of my flaws and weaknesses, it has been a good exercise of self-reflection, especially following conference last week.

I do have a LONG, ever-growing list of things in my head that I know would make me a better person, but here are the three things I am going to specifically focus on for the next few weeks:

1. Serve others.  It can be hard to find the energy to serve other people when you can barely find the energy to get through your day sometimes, but I always notice that I'm happiest when I'm focusing on other people.  I want to be the person that my family and friends know they can always count on when they are in need of something, no matter what it is.  I have wonderful people in my life that serve me in so many different ways and I love and appreciate them so much.  I just want to pay it backwards and forwards.
2. Give people the benefit of the doubt.  I attended a workshop called "Crucial Conversations" at work a few months ago and the biggest thing I learned was that in any situation we have to be careful to differentiate between actual factual information and the "story" we create in our mind based on our assumptions and biases.  We did some exercises where we had to analyze situations and sort out the facts from the "story" and it was pretty eye opening.  In most of the cases that I was positive I understood what had happened, I was absolutely WRONG when they revealed the back story.  The facilitator in that class taught us how to ask questions to get more FACTS and how to base our judgments on fact only and not our own perceptions.  I need to practice this more and not jump to such negative conclusions about people.
3. Take care of myself physically, spiritually and emotionally.  This may seem like a selfish thing to work on, but it has very unselfish intentions.  You can't take care of anyone else if you aren't taking care of yourself and I want and NEED to be able to take care of the people around me that I love in the best ways possible.  

So there is my starting point.  Thank you Brooklynn for getting me refocused this week.  You made me want to be a better person.

Time out for fun...

Have I told you how wonderful it is to have my parents around the corner from us?  It's so much easier to spend time together when we are five minutes away instead of twenty-five.  This week they had tickets to Riverdance, so Mike & I got to tag along.  We always have the best time hanging out with them.  It's definitely one of our favorite things to do.

I have found that it works really well to save the majority of my work PTO for the days following "big" events.  That way I get to still enjoy some weeknight activities without having to pay for it the next day because I got to bed too late.  I've done this a few times already this year and it has literally helped change the quality of my life.  Thursday night was Riverdance, so I planned ahead to take off Friday and I got to enjoy a late night on Thursday with the fam and a long weekend after.  It was heaven!

Mike has never seen Riverdance, so I was extra excited that we got to go because I knew he would absolutely LOVE it.  I was right.  He could not contain himself in the seat and was bouncing around the entire show.  There was a couple a few rows behind us that actually came and asked us if he was a dancer during intermission and proceeded to tell us that they enjoyed watching him just as much as the performers.  I love that man and his enthusiasm for life.  Its contagious.  😍

I realized again tonight how much music affects me and how much it has the capability to lift my spirit and soothe my soul.  Thanks mum and dad for the most wonderful evening.  We are so blessed to have you so close. 💗

Spasticity woes...

I’ve been on steroids for a few days now and I haven’t really felt any relief of my current symptoms, which is a little discouraging, but I do know steroids can take a little bit of time to work, so I’m not giving up quite yet.  The side affects of the medicine have been manageable... I've just tried extra hard to put a smile on my face and not speak without thinking carefully first.  In fact, I have literally been making a point to ask myself... "Is it kind?  Is it necessary?" before I open my mouth and say something. (I have deliberately left out the "is it true" part of the analysis because the way I have been feeling, that would just get me in trouble.)

Tonight I wasn't in the best mood to start with, (yes, I'm totally blaming the steroids), but then I had one of those experiences that always freak me out a bit... the kind of experience where something feels different to how it's ever felt before.  I am accustomed to getting some pretty painful muscle cramps, (like charlie horses in my feet or calves for example.)  Mike told me they call it "spasticity" and that there are a variety of things that can aggravate it from a change in temperature, to tight clothing, to just moving the wrong way.  It's also apparently one of the more common symptoms of MS.  Who knew?  

Usually I can just flex it out or if that doesn't work Mike just massages it out for me no problem.  However, tonight I was laying in bed when one of those suckers hit my right foot and absolutely nothing that I did could relieve it.  I couldn’t flex or twist the pain out, I couldn’t stand on it at all, Mike got out of bed and tried to massage and stretch it out, but nothing was working.  It felt like a knife stabbing through my foot getting worse and worse and the fact that I couldn't do anything to stop it was causing me to panic big time.

Luckily I have a very educated hubby when it comes to stuff like this. 😍 (What a blessing that he decided to go back to school to study Physical Therapy!)  He remained totally calm even with me crying like a baby, ran a hot bath and had me sit on the side of the tub with my feet soaking in the hot water. Within a couple of minutes, the cramping had stopped completely and I finally had relief.  

Shout out to Mike for his quick thinking and for keeping his cool in the most kind, gentle, loving way while I was pretty much flipping out!  Seriously my love, I don't know what I would do without you. 💜