Grateful

It's Tuesday, and I'm at work on the last day of Davidson's fiscal year. Randall's at work, preparing to go on a work trip tomorrow. The kids are at school, playing with their friends. Everything is normal. But the past two days have been a whirlwind, and it reminded me to hold people dear, every single day.

Randall was in the hospital the past two days with heart issues. It was diagnosed as atrial fibrillation (or "a fib"), and he is on medication to regulate his heart rhythm moving forward. He is fine, now. At the time, however, we weren't sure he was fine. Was it a heart attack? Were the treatments going to work? What does this mean?

As they rolled Randall out of the room to shock his heart yesterday morning, a million thoughts about single parenting and insurance policies raced through my head. Were they going to roll him back in? How would I tell the kids? How would I function without him? Realizing now that this is a fairly common situation, those thoughts were crazy. But, I was alone in a hospital room with nothing to do but worry.

There isn't a ton of information about why irregular heartbeats happen, but we know that healthier lifestyles can never hurt, so I promptly went into the kitchen when we got home from the hospital and got rid of everything we don't need. We love healthy foods, but we also like the bad stuff, so we need to focus on the good stuff for meals and snacks alike.We each weighed this morning (Randall and me, not the kiddos!) and are off to the races to get healthier! Nothing like a big ol' wake-up call, right?

It was a not-so-gentle reminder to (a) get healthy and start now, and also (b) love your people, and tell them often. We get so busy with life, I don't always show appreciation as often as it is deserved.

I'm lucky to do this life with Randall, and we need A LOT more years with him! 

After a LONG Hiatus - We're Back!

I haven't blogged since December of 2013. That's CRAZY. It also tells you what our lives have been like for the last 1.5 years. It's all my fault, but my work was insane, and I just didn't make the time to keep up the blog. But I will not let it go again. I love having this as a record of our lives, and it's an outlet to share thoughts and updates in a longer form than social media allows. It was a 2015 resolution to get back to it, so here we are.

So, what's the latest?

Randall's work wasn't great when we first moved to N.C., but now it's all good! That's the best news. From my perspective, it's like the client had to believe he was the best person to run their account, and now they know he's the bomb. I think that's a super simplistic way to look at it, but it's my summary. He has flexibility and isn't stressed all the time - win.

All is well at Davidson College --- now. I had a rough fall with some gigantic work nuttiness, but things seem to have settled back down, and I'm glad I stuck it out. I have wonderful colleagues, and some have become actual friends (like, friend friends, not work friends). That's always been so important to me, and it took a while to figure out how that was going to be here. We launched a $425M campaign last fall - yeah, just one reason it's been nutty at work! - and it's exciting to add some of that new work to my plate to liven things up. I also enjoy a great deal of flexibility when needed, which makes the whole working mom thing doable.

SYDNEY: Sydney is five going on 15, and she starts Kindergarten in August. She's SO done with preschool, both academically and otherwise. She reads on a 2nd grade level (my best guess based on what she's reading), and is now into chapter books. It's pretty phenomenal, and I take zero credit for teaching her how to read. She's a focused kid, and once she decided she was going to read, she did. Just like swimming. If she's into something, she's INTO it. If she's not, forget it. She may have training wheels on her bike forever. And guess what? She couldn't possibly care less. She just completed her second year of dance, and plans to add gymnastics to the list of activities in the fall. She has become quite a little person --- Love talking to her and getting her input on things. She's going to thrive in "real school" and whatever teacher gets her hit the jackpot --- in my humble opinion!

COLLIN:  Collin is three, and he is all that that might suggest. He's our wild man! He's also the most loving kid I've ever seen. His teachers can't decide if he's the best or worst kid in the class, because he doesn't really listen or sit still, but he's so stinkin' sweet. What's a teacher to do?! Collin loves everything active. He loves to swim, ride bikes, play anything sports-related (a favorite being basketball right now), go for walks ... but if you expect him to sit for a complete book or work on coloring or tracing, you're wasting your time. Once in a blue moon he'll surprise us, but for the most part, anything that smells of academia is not on his radar yet. This is not to say he isn't smart because I think he is, and I get so tickled when he surprises us with new knowledge from school. I think he is listening, but it's his little secret. :-) The only still activity he likes right now is movies. He loves to curl up in our bed with the whole family and spend time watching a show or a movie on a Friday night. And I love that time together, too.

We have missed our friends in Arkansas since the move, but we also are very happy to be closer to family now. You just can't have it all, and the move here was the right decision for sure. We are lucky to have had visitors from Arkansas and to have made a couple of trips out there (more R than me), so we're staying in touch. So grateful for social media and email, too! 

We look forward to keeping up the blog (this time), and I'll be sharing thoughts on a variety of topics, including more info on our family!!! Thanks for reading.