Summer 2013... so far

I’m failing at this blogging business.  I know this because I couldn’t even remember my password to log into my blog.  Fail.  I feel like I’m seriously slacking.  I attribute this to:

  

A)   My lack of creativity, I just haven’t been feeling the writing bug recently.

B)   Lots of trips and a crazy work schedule (who has time for frivolities like a random online scribbling?).

C)   Visitors, namely, my sea-star.  Which, for the record, I’m not complaining about, it was so great to see her!

D)   My achy, breaky back.  Why you ask?  No apparent reason.  I just like to complain about my old lady woes at any given opportunity, even if they have absolutely no correlation to the conversation at hand.

However, on the note of my back, I would like to talk about just how grateful having all these back problems has made me.  Weird, I know, but let me explain.  I know in my last blog post I pontificated a bit on my back pain and what was going on, but since then I have learned much more about why I’ve been having this chronic (yes, chronic; it has been going on for over six months now) back pain.  When the pain I was experiencing started limiting my physical activities and making it virtually impossible for me to run without having my left leg go partially numb, I decided I should probably see the doctor again.  Good call.  Had I not done that, who knows what further damage I would have caused.  The doctor sent me to get an MRI and some x-rays where they found a bulging disc at L5 to S1, spondylolisthesis, a pars defect, arthritis, and a generally very straight spine with no curvature until L5 to S1, at which point, my spine curves at a rather unstable 90 degrees.  To get all this news was disheartening to say the least.  I’ve spent a lot of time lamenting the fact that I can’t run anymore, or do any other sort of high-impact activity.  But I can’t say that in some ways it hasn’t been a blessing in disguise.  It has made me appreciate just what my body was (and hopefully someday will be again) able to do.  How many people have been in tragic accidents and lost a limb, or even limbs, and will never even be able to walk again?  Or what about people who have been paralyzed and will spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs?  When I think about things like this, I’m grateful that things aren’t worse.  I’ve also learned that patience really is a virtue - one I still don’t really have, but am learning to acquire.  Even so, I can’t say these back problems are something I would like to have, but I am a firm believer that all things happen for a reason.  Cheesy, and cliché, I know.  But I also know for a fact that I’m a person who could often use a lesson on being grateful.  Hopefully there will come a day when I can run again and do all the things I used to do, but if that doesn’t happen, at least I can always be thankful that I’m not bedridden, in a wheelchair, or missing a limb.  Things can always be worse!

On another note, the note of my sea-star (aka sister, aka Anna Montana, aka she who shares my similar DNA), she did come visit this past month, and it was (mostly) a blast!  It was so great to see some family and spend time with her; it was just like having my own little piece of America for a couple of weeks!  While she was here we got to do a bit of traveling, to include Ireland and Amsterdam (pictures to be posted below).  I must say, I’m glad we’re both adults now.  Why you might ask?  Because when we were younger, we kind of disliked each other… probably more than a little bit at times.  We got into nasty yelling matches, and occasionally resorted to hair-pulling, and dare I say biting…  That’s not to say that we didn’t love each other, we just had a lot of differences that, as kids and teenagers, seemed insurmountable.  But I think things have changed.  It was almost strange to carry on actual adult conversations, and to do so without arguing (don’t get me wrong, we had a couple of little tiffs while she was here).  It makes me so thankful for family.  Being in Germany can be hard with being 5,000 miles away from your family and only getting to see them once, maybe twice a year, so seeing some family was really a highlight of this Summer.  And now I’m getting mushy, which is not my style, so I’m going to stop while I’m ahead.  Anyway, I’m going to put up some of my favorite pictures from our trips below.  Please enjoy my fine picture-taking skills… as most of you probably know, artistic abilities run rampant through my veins.  Ha.

We climbed all the way to the top of this castle to kiss the Blarney Stone.  We will now (supposedly) speak eloquently for the rest of our lives.

I thought this would be an artistic shot.  I clearly thought wrong.

About to begin my journey towards eloquent speech.  Heaven knows I could use it.  Word vomit, anyone?

Anna feeding zer horse on our little jaunt around the castle grounds.

Anna and me at the Cliffs of Moher.  Never have I seen two more attractive people.  Ever.

When in the Netherlands, pose awkwardly by a giant wooden clog...

... or just look like you weren't ready for the camera.

At the 4th of July celebration on the Air Base.  We 500 percent rocked the Hello Kitty look.

View from the Landstuhl Castle.  There are some redeeming qualities about living 5,000 miles away from America.

We made cookies for the boys on Anna's last night in Germania, and they were delish!

The cute boys we made the cookies for.  This picture is before they both got convinced to have Hello Kitty face paint as well.  We won that one.