Sunday, October 3, 2010

A Life So Changed

Howdy, folks!

Yesterday I ended my post by saying I was going on a "light" shopping trip with my hubby, and that with my walker, I can go anywhere.  Well.....not quite.  I did go on the shopping trip, but I did something I thought I would never do.  When my mom was alive, I would never let her take the motorized cart around in stores except one time, right after she had her knee replacement and we went to Walmart. I remember she was going too fast and knocked over a display of L'eggs nylons!  But yesterday, my legs were so bad, I couldn't even use my walker, so I had my hubby go and get the cart for me to zip around Walmart in.  I'm very disappointed in myself because I had to use that and not the walker. I need to walk, but I just couldn't yesterday.  I guess I'll use my relaxation method to calm myself down!!  We DID go do a lot of stores, though, that by the time we hit Walmart, I was just exhausted and it was 102 degrees out.  Yikes!!

OK....another relaxation method I use with thinking about previous happy memories is deep breathing.  You've probably already heard or done this, but it really does work.  I use it when I am working through a very difficult time.  I take a nice big breath in through my mouth slowly, then exhale through my nose slowly.  Do this as often as you need to. It really does help calm you down and your pain may even seem less.  It does for me.  I just did it a few minutes ago and the sharp pain in my left thigh is dulled.  I kid you not!!!

My life has changed so much in the last two years and I've learned so much in such a little amount of time.  My in-laws have been very patient and helpful to both hubby and me and have been excellent teachers.  See, when my mother was alive, she was "queen" of the castle, so to speak and she ruled the show.  My dad would rebel a lot and they would fight a lot.  Frankie would have no say at all, because he was the "outsider" that came into our tight threesome family.  I think my mom and dad resented that and were afraid that Frankie would "take me" away from them. I kept reassuring them that wouldn't happen, but they never quite believed me.

I'll be honest-it was incredibly hard those ten years that Frankie and I lived with them to help them out.  It was easier to pool our money together than to have to pay for two apartments, electricity, water, ect.  We did have some fun times, too.  I have lots of happy memories of that time, like when the four of us when to the Wild Animal Park in Escondido, CA.  I'll show you some of the photos my dad and I took.  They are amazing!
 My hubby, Mom & Dad sitting on the park bench. I'm not quite sure what my dad is looking at, but it sure has his attention, doesn't it?  LOL...

Me and my mom petting a deer.  Such a sweetie he was and he sure loved the attention!!  :0)  It's so weird, I ALWAYS wear shorts, but here I am in jeans and my mom is in shorts...she always wears shorts, too.  Just one of life's stupid mysteries!!  LOL....
 This is the entrance to "Nairobi Village."  The weather sure was beautiful that day.  Nice sun, mild breeze and only while we were on the trolley ride around the park did it look like rain coming in.
 I get a chuckle every time I see this picture.  My dad is absolutely a nut...a FEARLESS nut!  He got so close to this rhino, we thought he was going to jump into the fenced area with it!  He said he just wanted "a close-up of the rhino" and that he looked real friendly.  Yeah, ummmmmm, OK, Dad!!!  Mom didn't go for the story, either.
 I've titled this picture of my husband "shop until you drop."  I couldn't help it that I saw so many cute things in all the gift shops!  And they did have sales, too....or at least that is what I told my husband!  :0)  Shhhhh....don't tell him, that, though!  Although to my defense, I did get ONE sale item.  :0)
 We took the trolley ride all along the perimeter of the park and it was so much fun and worth the money.  There was NO way Mom or I could walk all the distance of the park and live to tell about it!!  Anyway, you can see the black clouds coming in and the breeze was getting a little cooler.  But, oh, how beautiful it all was!!
 Here's another view of the park and the animals in their natural habitat. One thing I really love about this park is they don't cage their animals. They try to make it as homey as possible for them.
 Aren't these colored trees beautiful?  That is the one thing I miss living in Arizona..the three seasons!!  I say three because we have summer all year around!!
 Here is a man-made lake for the animals.  Isn't it something else?  The camera was clicking non stop and even then I couldn't get enough. What can I say? I LOVE pictures!!
The trolley car pulled up pretty close to the elephant exhibit, allowing me to get this great shot of some of the elephants.  Thank goodness we were in the trolley or my dad might have tried to get THEIR picture close up, too!! I don't know too many "friendly" elephants, either!!  :0)
We went to the Wild Animal Park in December, so they had their "Festival of Lights" going on.  Since we spent all day at the park, we were just exhausted and went back to our motel and crashed!!

 I hope you enjoyed my lil' photo show.  I love pictures and I have so many I want to share, but I don't want to bore you, either. So I think this strikes a happy medium!!

My life has changed in so many ways, I would never have believed it if someone had told me three years ago of what is to come.  My mom dying was the absolute WORST thing to happen to me to date.  And now my dad is living in Michigan and I haven't seen him in over a year now. My grandma, whom mom and I saw almost everyday, lives in Texas with her son and daughter-in-law and I haven't seen her in two years.  But she will be coming to Phoenix for three weeks in December!!!  I'm so excited, I put a little ticker widget on the blog that counts down when she comes!! I can't wait!!

I also got a letter from Amazon telling me I have been an "associate" for a few months now and have not sold anything yet.  Some associate!!  So, PLEASE, if you buy anything from Amazon, I have a recommendation by me widget on the blog of some products I personally use and they really do wonders. So check it out!  I'd greatly appreciate it!!

Alrighty, that will do for this post.  I hope you all are happy and well. Enjoy your Sunday!!

God bless,
Until tomorrow,
Missy

1 comment:

  1. Hi Missy,

    Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and saying such nice things about it. I'm sorry you've had so much trouble with the awards you gave out. I suppose they can be time consuming for people who are super busy and only check in on their blog occasionally, but that's no excuse for not acknowleging the person giving it to you. That's just plain rude. I guess maybe those people didn't really deserve the award to begin with.

    You have a great blog (which I am now following) and I can tell that you put your heart into it. I look forward to checking out your different pages, etc. You have some super pictures here too. I'm getting interested in doing more of that myself. Especially having the blog now.

    Really sorry about your mom. I lost my mom in 2001 and my dad 7 years before that. They were older when they became parents and so dad was in his mid 70's when he passed and mom was 80. I do still miss them every day. Today would have been my dad's 91st birthday.

    I don't have fibro, but I do have chronic myofascial pain, which is similar. I also have several bad discs, peripheral neuropathy and a whole host of other joint and muscular issues. The rheumy I've just seen at NYU is thinking possibly Negative ANA Lupus. It's rare for a Lupus patient to have a negative ANA, but possible, and I have at least 10 of the 12 -14 (depending on what you read) symptoms associated with it.

    Needless to say, I can fully relate to your pain. I do have a fantastic PM doctor though, so I've been lucky in that respect. A good friend of mine has Fibro and I know she suffers from a lot of similar symptoms to mine. She also just had a cervical fusion 6 months ago.

    I hope you stop by from time to time and say hello. I'll be checking in here with you as well. Take care and I hope you have a decent pain day! Blessings and Peace,
    Martha

    ReplyDelete

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