Four months ago today, I lost my soulmate. Her name was Chanda, and she had been my best friend for over 30 years. We had walked this path of life together since we were 11 years old. We were together through puberty, adolescence, college, marriages, children, divorces, and everything else under the sun. I wrote on this blog of her dad’s passing back in 2013 and how it changed everything. However, losing her changes things even more profoundly than that event had. I mentioned previously that there were life-altering events that occurred in 2018, and this is definitely the biggest one. Her passing has changed everything forever and in every way, and although it is still too soon and the wounds are still too fresh to write freely today, I was compelled to pause for a moment to remember her. For in remembering those who pass before us, we honor them and the impact they had on our lives. She was my “Thunder Buddy for Life,” and I miss her more than words can express.
Month: March 2019
Every Day I’m Shuffling
2018 was a year full of fantastic high points and absolutely devastating low ones. I know people often write their reflections on the previous year sometime in January, but I have only recently returned to blogging, so I missed the boat then. However, there are things about last year I need to share in order to fully write about the present or begin to look towards the future.
Tomorrow I am running the Chicago Shamrock Shuffle for the 6th year in a row. I love this race, and it is often the official start of racing/running season for me. Last year I almost didn’t participate in this event though, because approximately six weeks prior, on the day after Super Bowl Sunday, I was rushed to the emergency room with excruciating pain. I could barely swallow or speak. I thought it was a lymph node infection or something like that, but I didn’t believe it was anything dangerous. Boy, was I wrong! The speed and efficiency at which the hospital staff moved once they determined the danger I was in was impressive. Long story short, the infection had caused swelling which in turn had caused my airway to become constricted. I had to have an emergency tracheotomy performed in order to save my life and a complex surgery to get rid of the infection. It was the scariest health situation I have ever been in, but ultimately – I. Am. Here.
Last year I was cleared to run this race only a couple of weeks prior to the event. I didn’t care though. I was just ecstatic to be out there. I actually cried a little as I ran around the last bend before the finish line because I was so grateful to still be alive, much less running. This year, I’m trying to set a new personal record on this course as a testament to still being alive and a tribute to those who have gone on before me. Every day is such a gift. Let us use those gifts wisely as we shuffle on.
‘Cause everything you thought would last forever
Never lasts forever like you plan
Don’t let your now become another
So take life by the hands while you still can – Brothers Osborne
40 Days of Kindness
Yesterday was the beginning of Lent. I am not Catholic, but I have pushed myself every year to give things up during this season. As I tell those who ask why I do this, Catholics do not have the market cornered on giving things up, or sacrificing, in order to receive clarity, direction, or to get more in tune with their spiritual side, etc. However, 2018 was one heck of a year (the details of which I’ll slowly be sharing with you over the next few weeks), and during the month of February, I felt led to go on a Daniel Fast. I spent 21 days giving up pretty much everything I enjoyed, as far as food and drink goes. So as I was considering Lent, I really was stumped about what to do. Until I became inspired by one of my friends. He shared with me that one of his friends uses Lent to add something in to his life versus taking something out. He goes to the gym every day, commits to read for an hour, or to try something new. This inspired me, and thus the 40 Days of Kindness mission was born. I want to spend each day of this season purposefully looking for ways to be kind to others. And not just those within my social circle or personal networks. I want to be kind to those who would be least expecting it…and quite possibly could need it the most. Shortly after committing to this act, my school announced it has having a kindness assembly – which happened today. Confirmation that I chose the right idea. I’ll keep you updated on how it goes!
Day 1) complimented a random stranger (Lame, I know, but it was almost midnight.)
Words from the Long Run 