Living on a prayer.

My brother came in from Florida last week to help me with Alecs Open House. We decided weeks ago we were going to throw Alec a graduation party quarantine or not. I had ordered the tent month ago and just kept living on a prayer. 

Big Brother, Bobby and I, Photo credit Rachel Dahlin

We had a few bumps in the road but the show was going to go on and it DID! 

We had a fabulous day. Beautiful weather, smooth transitioning from the last minute commencement parade to the open house and great company. 

I could not believe the turn out, it came as a total surprise. 

Things were difficult for many seniors but I kept a positive attitude, reminding myself everyone was going through this and to make the best of it. I believe when you learn to let go of what you can not control and turn your energy into ways to make the situation better your outcome is much more pleasant. 

I have had a full week of physical therapy for my plantar fasciitis. I have discovered very early on that the only treatment to get you through was painful.  I had to grit my teeth and suck it up because it hurt so stinking bad. 

My pediatrist wanted me to go to a physical therapist that was trained in Graston Technique. 

This treatment helps to speed up your recovery and hopefully help you have less treatment time. I was able to go back to Clint Verrans Sports Medicine. 

Rachel had worned me that it was painful. 

WHOA! You had better take some Mortin and have a high tolerance of pain. By the time Chris at Clint Verrans was finished with his torture tools on me,  I had sweat on my forehead from trying not to yelp. His little kit looked like Chinese torture tools. By that night, my calves were black and blue! 

My next day visit I was scared to death he was going to do it again. When he saw my calves he mentioned how "...this is one of the reasons he was not a fan of it..." He then did more manipulation with his hands and did shockwave therapy. 

Living on a Prayer. 

It seems like I must have exhausted God with all my prayers the last year. 

I just get running again in January and I blow my knee out. Then I get my miles back up and after 12 weeks of PT and Covid 19 shows up making me quit PT but I am able to keep running. 

Then after a long run I find myself hobbling in misery. Plantar fasciitis.  No more running, but I take up biking and actually really enjoy it. 

I want to run sooo bad. 

After PT, cleaning my maw maws house and running a couple errands I was so excited to get on my bike and ride. 

3 miles down E. Holly rd my front bike locked up and I found myself going nowhere fast. 

My chain fell off, that I could fix but I couldn't get my brakes to loosen up. Dad had to come pick me up. 

"Dad, maybe God is trying to tell me I can run...." I laugh in the front seat of his red Ford Ranger. 

Dad chuckles, "No Anita, I don't think God is telling you that!" 

I was so frustrated, I wanted to move, run, bike, something more than nothing. 

I put my running shoes on and took off before someone told me "NO". 

Only 3 miles, enough to pray, pant and plead. 

These days I feel like I am living from one prayer to another. Trying to stay positive. I am so grateful God is patient with me. I know I am a bonehead. So stinking stupid and stubborn. 

Laughing, that's what I do at myself. Laugh or I will cry. 

I really am my own worst enemy. With every heartbeat I refuse to go down easy. That is just who I am, right or wrong I am not giving up or going down without a fight. 

Jeremiah 29:12 " Then you will call upon me, and come and pray to me, and I will hear you." 

"I am still bald...." 

I have 3 people going through Cancer treatments. Actually 2, A BIG SHOUT out to Cindy, she finished her last radiation last week. 

Alice has 3 treatments left and Ashleigh finished her chemo 2 weeks ago. Both have surgery and possible radiation. 

I felt Alices pain all over. 

Bald, without eyebrows, eyelashes. So insecure, stripped of life and unrecognizable. I got choked up listening to her vulnerability. Her voice quivering as she shared her heart. 

No one knows the pain chemo leaves you with. What is strips you down to. Chemo takes and takes and takes from you, Its more than hair. 

What it is like to see yourself as a woman hairless, foreign, weak, vulnerable...

Please keep these ladies in prayer. Chemo is accumulative, it beats you up the farther along you are.

Anita~