Stalkers

I know how to track your IP address...and you.  I have tracked down the IP address of one person who has been following me all over the net.  Sadly, it is a relative.  Stop it now.  You have been warned.  Shall I mention your name, home address, email address, phone number, and the name of your business? No? Then cease and desist.

Headaches

I have never been prone to headaches.

Really.

Life can be a headache.  My swim goggles give me a headache.  Every day.  Every swim.  Contact lenses? Yeah.  Headache.  All known, preventable, external headaches.  They are temporary.  They disappear with time.

Okay. The occasional tension headache.

But now.  Migraines that last for hours. Or days.  Complete with hallucinogenic lights, roaring in my ears.  The kind that make me bury my head under the covers, whining like a babe.  

Oh. And the neck pain.  Yeah. There's that.  My doc believes it is due to several TBIs I managed to suffer last winter.

And yeah.  The accident.  Hitting a hapless doe at 70mph on I-94.  

Well.  I am still here.  Sadly, the doe is not.

But the headaches?  

Just a blip in my radar.  The journey is just beginning.

Black Friday

Let's Feed Some People

Uh huh.

Truth

The truth will come out in the documentary.

Dream

Last week I spent a week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Without getting too specific, I was there to investigate a serious health issue. A cancer scare. While there, I had multiple tests done...scans...biopsies. Name it. On the night before the final day of testing, I had a very unnerving dream. It was a very clear dream about experiences I had with a childhood friend. This was someone who had not crossed my mind since High School. Her final message was this: "Everything will be alright. Don't be afraid." I woke up dripping wet with sweat. 

I picked up my iPhone and googled her. Her funeral was the day before. The day before!!! I read her obituary. Honestly, I was shaken. What did this mean?  I'm not religious. Afterlife? Who knows. 

That morning, I went in for my final test. 

My final consultation with the doc: BENIGN!

Letter to Diana Nyad

Diana, Don Woodkayaker McCumber suggested I post this story on your page. About 4 weeks ago, I started having severe stomach pain. After an Endoscopy, an ulcer was discovered, along with an Unidentified "mass". The biopsy of the ulcer turned out to be benign, but the "mass" was questionable. So. I decided to take my sorry stomach to the top of the food chain at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. I live in Michigan, so it was a 12 hour drive. They ran "massive" amounts of tests during my week at the Clinic. *I can laugh now, but, at the time I was terrified.* One day, as I was waiting to undergo an Endoscopy/Colonoscopy at the Clinic, a Japanese gentleman approached me and took a photograph of me with his camera. I happened to be wearing your Onward tee. He then thrust a piece of paper at me with a pen. I was puzzled, at first, but then realized he must have thought I was you! Blonde hair...same age...roughly. (However, you are much cuter than I am) So. I signed it with my initials: JAG. I think I made his day! After an extremely long, and stressful amount of time, that day *Stomach cancer has but a 10% survival rate.* I finally met with the GI doc to get the verdict. It was benign!!! I was ecstatic! I gave the doc the link to my donor site. (I'll be swimming the Mackinac Straits next summer to benefit Gleaners Community Food Bank of southeast Michigan. As far as anyone has been able to figure out, I'll be the oldest person to make this swim.) He went to my page, and immediately clicked on the $100.00 amount...pulled out his credit card, and donated! He got a huge polar bear hug from me for that...and the great diagnosis! The huz and I went out immediately to celebrate!
The next day, we started the long journey to Michigan. We were about 40 miles from home, when a huge deer came out of nowhere. We hit the deer at 70 mph. We limped off the interstate into the nearest gas station. I was sobbing uncontrollably, because a beautiful doe died a violent death right in front of me. Our car was totaled. After we summoned the State Troopers, I realized that I was hurt. My neck was hurting, and my shoulder was hurting. There was blood on my shirt! So. An ambulance was called. I was ferried off to the nearest ER, where I was treated for shock, and other mild injuries. Then the doc wanted to cut my shirt off. *the lucky ONWARD tee*
Me: If anyone tries to cut off this shirt off I will hit you.
Doc: We need to make sure your shoulder is not broken.
Me: It's not.
Doc: How do you know that?
Me: I know my body. Take an X-ray!
The X-Ray showed NO BREAK!
So now, I have this magical Diana Nyad, blood- stained tee! I'm thinking about having it framed.
You rock, Diana!
Love,
julie
http://www.gcfb.org/MackStraits

Compassion

The big questions:

Have we, as a nation, lost our compassion for others?

Do we limit our compassion?

Are we only concerned about our communities. Our friends. Our families?

Is it all about self-love?

There have been hundreds of books written about love of self, self-esteem, self-fulfillment. Should self issues be our primary concern?

Are we so blinded by our own interests, that we have lost interest about the suffering of strangers?

Life is hard. I get that. Can we emerge from our own cocoons, look around us, and see clearly, that we are not alone?

Do we have what it takes to bring out the Mother Teresa that exists within all of us?

Are we able to take big steps? Steps that are difficult, clumsy, and inconvenient?

It all begins with baby steps.