Those of you who follow me on Twitter, or who work with me, or who know me IRL, probably know that May has been a crazy month with a lot of highs and lows. Early in the month, the Roadrunners (a basketball club run by my father-in-law and my husband’s childhood friends on the Peninsula) were in town for a tournament and the 16 & under team won the championship. It was a great weekend for me, not only as a basketball spectator, but also as a tangential member of the East Palo Alto/East Menlo Park community where many of these kids come from (and where I worked at a summer program with a couple of them when they were MUCH younger), and as the mother of a child who loves that community like it was his own family. I owe an entire post to what great things our friends and family are doing with this basketball club, but suffice it to say that I am proud of the 100+ people who came out to watch the 16s championship game, outnumbering the spectators of a local team four-to-one.
Then came Mother’s Day, and our annual tradition of having brunch with practically every mother we’re related to. This is by far the biggest holiday (person wise) of the year for our family, as Scoot’s grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, and nephews all come and my parents, sister and nephew attend. It was a great day and, of course, D was sad to have to say goodbye and head back to the Sacramento area for another week of school.
That Monday, we went to D’s first golf class, which was cancelled because of rain. He was SO disappointed. Later that week I had some meetings at work that just didn’t go the way I had wanted them to. I felt very frustrated and demoralized and, quite frankly, pissed. After work on Thursday, Scoot suggested that we go – again – to a car dealership (we had been basically every night for the previous two weeks so I was just over it) to buy our car. Though I was in the kind of mood where I could have killed someone, I actually decided to use my frustrating week to my advantage. I was a much more aggressive negotiator and we walked out of the Hyundai dealer with a 2009 Hyundai Sonata Limited for a steal great price. At last, our new car purchase was over and I could get on with life.
The following weekend Scoot helped his friend by serving as an assistant coach in another Roadrunner’s tournament (this time for the 15 and under team). They lost but it was still a lot of fun watching him out there. I think he was a good influence on the boys and on the coach, who just so happens to be the person primarily responsible for Scoot and me getting together.
On Saturday, I also took D and B to see a local high school performance of Music Man. We’re going to see Lion King in June and have been taking the boys to these high school shows (D and I saw Beauty and the Beast last month) as practice. Though B slept through the first half, and was a bit antsy during the second half, D thoroughly enjoyed it and has asked to get into theater himself.
A week or so later I was introduced, through a mutual friend on Twitter, to a chiropractor, Dr. Jared Thomas. I mentioned that the time may have finally come to seek help, after a not so helpful experience with my regular physician. At my annual exam earlier in May, I mentioned to her that I have had chronic neck, shoulder and back pain for a number of years now (the first date I can pinpoint is the week after I had D). I’m only 30 years old, I told her, I’m WAY too young to have chronic pain. Because I thought it might be related to the scoliosis that Mrs. Pfaff diagnosed in 8th grade PE, her response was, “Well, you can go to physical therapy but there’s not much else you can do. It’s only going to get worse.” Now, I like this doctor (honestly, in large part because she told me on my first visit that she, too, had a miscarriage and that I wasn’t alone in the depression that set in after mine), but I felt defeated after being told that at 30, things are only going to get worse. I don’t want to be “crooked as a seven,” as Scoot’s grandma would say. So, I went in to see Dr. Thomas. He took x-rays and walked out and said, “Are you sure you’ve never been in a car accident?” Not exactly what you want to hear when someone is looking at your x-ray and the answer is actually no. He walked through my diagnosis and recommended that I start working with him for the next 12 weeks. Highly skeptical of non-”mainstream” medical practice and hoping to get my treatment covered by insurance, I called my doctor who told me to come into the office for yet more x-rays. She confirmed his diagnosis: my neck, which should have a curve to it, is straight. We had a conversation about going to a chiropractor for treatment versus going to a physical therapist and I’m going to give Dr. Thomas a try. But the whole experience just again made me wonder what life will be like in 20 years if I can’t fix this now. What about 40 years? None of my grandparents lived fewer than 83 years! That’s a long time from now. So, we’ll see how it goes. Can’t wait to update you all on the progress.
I also can’t wait to tell you how my first 5K goes. My training continues for the Roseville Community Crime Stoppers Fun Run on the 4th of July. I haven’t been perfect at sticking to my training schedule, but I’ve been out at least twice a week and am now running about 12 minutes without stopping, a dramatic improvement over the short sprints I’m used to doing. Though I’m seeing a change in my muscle tone (yay!), I haven’t lost a single pound (boo!). Either way, I’m sure I’ll be ready for the 5K next month.
The rest of the month really sucked at work. It wasn’t all of work, in fact, I’m getting pulled into a bunch of new projects that are really exciting and pushing me to learn. But I was responsible for dealing with some uncomfortable issues with vendors and consultants that made me feeling a deep sense of empathy and frustration and powerlessness, despite the fact that I was responsible and being held accountable for their resolution. Add to that some major technological issues as I was trying to wrap up work early on Friday and I was just overall not real pleased with the month of May.
Just as I thought I had escaped the last of the month – about 20 minutes from home on Friday afternoon – I get a phone call from Scoot. “Emmie, don’t go home. Someone took my keys. They have the car.”
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! (OK, I’ll admit it, the first thing out of my mouth was, “Stop lyin’!”)
I don’t feel like going into the details, but the short story is Scoot was playing basketball at a gym where he was given a guest pass. Like everyone else, he put his keys on the side of the court and someone picked them up, walked out into the parking lot and drove away in my car. Yes, the new one. I don’t know how this story will turn out – I’ve heard from many friends that they’ve had their cars stolen only to have them reappear within a few days – but needless to say, this weekend, which was supposed to be one for relaxing and getting the house in order before a number of consecutive busy weekends, has now been spent changing locks, and filing police reports and insurance claims. It sucks. Badly.
Yet, whenever these things that suck go on in my life, my mind always goes back to the little Hallmark book, The Little Book of Cheer, that I had as a child, which a number of Ms. Universe 1983 contestants autographed for me while we dined at Red Lobster in St. Louis. (I have a newspaper blurb about meeting them, complete with picture…I’ll have to scan it and add it in here.) Though I know nothing about these women, it’s not their autographs that have made that book a part of my life, but rather the simple little poem in it that has seen me through my toughest times. It goes, in part, like this:
Sometimes when you don’t feel so good or things don’t go just ask they should,
It helps to think of cheery things – like a garden alive with butterfly wings
Or a rainbow’s promise after the rain and morning’s gold through your window pane.
Think of fluffy kittens who love your squeezes, dandelion puffs you can blow in the breezes,
And friends who say “bless you” after your sneezes…
Cheer up! Things are never as bad as they seem if you dream your favorite kind of dream…
Remember the people who can’t do without you and letters that say, “I’ve been thinking about you!”
Tomorrow you may hear a new secret told or find a new friend and a warm hand to hold.
So if you’re not feeling good, if it’s raining outside or in your heart, don’t be blue.
Think of all the happy things there are in the world for you.
For when you cheer up, it cheers those who love you; simply because they think the world of you!
Thank you to all of you who have endured life’s tough times with me. When I told D that the guys who stole our car took his golf clubs too (they were in the trunk), he started to cry. I asked if his daddy was here and safe? He said yes. “Is your mommy here and safe?” “Yes.” “Is your brother here and safe?” “Yes.” “Isn’t that what matters?” “Yes.” “Because, D, always remember that things are replacable. It’s people that aren’t. And everyone who loves you is here. And that’s all that matters.”
I guess it’s time for me to practice what I preach and say a big thank you to all of you who are here for me through thick and thin. Whether you’re a new Twitter friend or a family member I’ve know my whole life, I appreciate you. Thanks so much for dealing with me and my drama this month and always.
