Musings of a Louisville St. Louisan

No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thy friend's Or of thine own were: Any man's death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.  John Donne "Your mother has cancer."  This is news that no one ever wants to hear about anyone they love, but these days it seems most everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer.  I became one of those "everyones" when I got this phone call over six years ago from my dad on a warm August day.  Fortunately, in my mom's case they had caught the cancer early and with a lumpectomy and chemo/radiation they would be able to easily extricate the cancer.  Unfortunately for me, my battle with her cancer would not be as short.  My battle began when, after

In life you have those very good weeks and then you have those very bad weeks.  Last week was one of those very bad weeks.  If you have read my blog for very long you will know that I have a problem with anxiety and worrying.  Most of the time I am able to work through any fears I have relatively easily.  Since I have become a mother and stay at home mom I have become quite a lot more relaxed than I was when I was working a 40 hour work week outside the home.  Last week was anything but relaxed.  I am not sure what triggered it.  We had a really stressful week with my two year old daughter, Alexandria, a few weeks ago and I know from experience that sometimes it takes a bit for your body to catch up with life's events.  I had also received some bad news about a family member, which made me extremely sad.  I woke up Monday morning and had that flurry of butterflies furiously flapping their wings in the pit of my stomach.  I went to mom's group and any time I spoke the feeling ca

What Event Wouldn't Be Complete Without a Photo Booth?  (The Lovely Em Dash is on my left) The last thing I wanted to do tonight was go out.  After Alexandria, my two year old, went to bed, all I wanted to do was lay in bed and watch a movie that I got with my .50 off coupon code from Redbox (I was pretty bummed that I wasn't going to be able to use that coupon.  I'll probably think about it often in the next week).  I didn't feel particularly well and I was extremely tired.  Life with a chronic medical condition can do that to you .  But I've battled being tired my entire life (and anti-social), so that really wasn't anything new.  And well as far as I was concerned, the chronic medical condition could go suck it's own toe.  I pulled myself up from my bootstraps and stepped out of my comfort zone to go to the first Louisville Bloggers Meet and Greet.  Stepping out of my comfort zone was something I did on a regular day to day basis when I worked at H

One of my favorite family bike rides. Every Saturday morning if you live in the east end of Louisville you are bound to come across countless numbers of bikers, runners and walkers.  Some of them are doing it for exercise, some for mental stability, to some it is a means for socialization and for some it is preparation for a triathlon.  This morning was no exception. Most Saturday mornings I head out to the seminary pool to do a 35-40 minute (without stopping) swim (which roughly translates to 1750-2000 yards, 1600.2-1828.8 meters, .99-1.14 miles).  I usually feel pretty great about myself for exercising on a Saturday at all.  However, recently I signed up for a triathlon and realized that just swimming every Saturday wasn't going to cut it.  One of my training plans was to ride my bike to the pool and then swim.  I would have my husband meet me there so I could drive back home (I knew I wouldn't be able to ride my bike back because my legs would be like jelly).  With my

We've all done it.  That moment when you gasp and think, "I must be the worst parent EVER."  The moment when you think that no one else has ever done anything so stupid. I remember hearing a story from one of my favorite author/preachers about a time when his daughter was a little girl and somehow he and his wife got their signals crossed on who was supposed to be watching her.  She had just returned from somewhere in the car.  The husband came and got into the car, without talking to the wife and drove off.  He got to his destination and was about to get out of the car when the sound of a baby cooing stopped him.  Apparently his wife hadn't gotten the baby out of the car yet and he was about to leave the child in the car on a hot California day.  When I heard this story I thought, "How stupid." and "Boy, it makes me feel a lot better that he did something like this."  I woke up this morning on the actual right side of the bed and was pretty o