Embrace Your Destiny: Find a Hobby

Wedding gift for friend Heather

“Quilting? I don’t know. I’ve always thought of quilting as being something old people do. On the other hand, do you think they would teach me? It fits with my interests  so it could work. Maybe I’ll call to check it out.” This was my end of a conversation with Donnie about quilting as a new hobby.

 

I wanted to find a new hobby that would stimulate my mind and creativity and that could be useful. I wasn't interested in anything that would need lots of new equipment or be real expensive.  Living in North Topsail Beach posed other problems. I didn't want to spend a lot of time driving somewhere and I wasn't sure where to even look for a workshop. I was at loose ends.

Embrace Your Destiny: Make Some Cookies

He plants my daffodils and I enjoy them

 “Ouch! You’re squeezing my hand too hard and it hurts! Do you have to hold me so tight?” This is just one of my many rants inflicted on poor Donnie, my walking partner. 

All MS patients need a Donnie. I call him "caregiver". He prefers  the term"partner".  We have both grown into helping each other. His "partner" term works well for all  the stuff that I either can’t do by myself, am too fatigued to do, or I’m not good at doing. 

Embrace Your Destiny: Watch the Steps

Last Resort is at the top of the hill

What were we thinking? The first house we built at Cape Island, North Topsail Beach was too tall, too big and too hard. It turned out to be a good lesson for building our next house back on the farm in Mills River.

The beach house we called Suntracker, had three tall levels. I loved the whimsical look. It was white with lavender trim and a red metal roof. I loved the magnificent views of water all around. I didn’t love the generous deck because it was always either too hot or too windy to enjoy eating or sitting out there.

Eating outside on the deck was tricky, an adventure. We had to shift the table from place to place to find a spot not too hot or too windy. We tried entertaining on the deck. For example, one beautiful spring day when we had company, we planned to eat lunch on the deck. Lunch was on the table when the breeze picked up. We forgot that at the beach, around 12:00 noon, everyday, the wind picked up. By the time we sat down to eat, the wind was so strong it literally blew salad out of the bowls and chips off the plates. We ended up moving indoors.

Low-rise Steps going into Last Resort

We had space in abundance. The Garden Level was for parking, exercise, and working. The second level was living and entertaining, and the third level was our bedroom and office. Up and down, up and down. It was good exercise but grew tiresome. The elevator was okay for hauling heavy stuff up but too slow for everyday use. Sometimes we would go up and down all three levels maybe five or more times a day. We never considered how the heat and humidity would effect my Multiple Sclerosis symptoms.

We learned from living in Suntracker and used that knowledge in building The Last Resort in Mills River.  We put all our living space on the main level. Natural aging with regular joint and muscle aches and pains seems to call for limiting steps. Our builder insisted that we incorporate handicap accessible features as well. Thank you Sam Riddle!

 

I like the look and functionality of a two level house. We use the second floor on our terms. The doorways, hallway and stairway are wide enough to accommodate a wheel chair, if needed. I haven’t needed one yet. We have handrails on all stairs and grab bars in abundance. The few steps coming into the house are few in number and low rise making them easier to go up and down. I really appreciated those easy steps early in recovery from my fractured pelvis. With a spot from Donnie and using my walker for support, I could go up and down as needed to get to the garage.

Our hot yoga studio

The Pandemic came and we were sequestered inside more than usual. I said Donnie, “Can we make the guest bathroom upstairs into a hot yoga studio? We need to keep doing hot yoga. I think two mats will fit and with the shower on, maybe it will get a little hot.”

He surprised me saying, “We can. We should be able to get an Infrared light too. I’ll look for that on Amazon.” In no time, we were all set for doing hot yoga in that bathroom.  We added a few kettle bell weights to our collection, bought a bosu, dusted off the exercise ball and now we have a workable gym upstairs. Even the staircase has become a tool for some of my exercises. I tie stretch bands around the newels to do rows and other upper body exercises, and I use the steps for several leg strengthening exercises. I have found ways to modify most of the weight training lessons my trainer provided me.When company comes, we move the Infrared light and mats to the downstairs office. Upstairs is for company and grandchildren!

One exercise I do on the steps

We are happy with the lessons we learned from Suntracker. The Last Resort is not too hard or too big. We used hardwood flooring instead of hard travertine stone. Standing on hardwood is easier on the legs than standing on stone for long periods of time. That has made a big difference for me, especially in the kitchen. Our goal was to make everything needed for everyday living on the main level.. The office, quilting room is multipurpose. This gives us flexibility of space needed when entertaining.

Embrace Your Destiny: What's For Lunch

 

Hot Honey, Heart Beet and Boost

“What’s for lunch?” I get this question everyday, sometimes twice a day. My answer is usually the same, “We’ll do bone broth, juice and something light. How about avocado and tomato salad?” Sometimes, we switch up the routine if we eat lunch out while we are doing errands. Then, we have this for our evening meal.

 

 

Sounds boring, right? It is and it isn’t. The juice is usually a different Green Heart, Katie Flannagan juice everyday. The flavor often surprises me. Sometimes it’s just tastes better. Once recently, I was so delighted with the green juice that I texted Katie to find out what she did different. To my surprise, she said, “Nothing at all. It happens just seems to happen that way.” I suspect that the soil the organic vegetables are grown in and perhaps, the weather being either rainy or dry can cause the flavors to be richer, brighter and more intense. Wine certainly picks up flavors from the surrounding environment so why not vegetables?

Embrace Your Destiny: Enjoy Being Grandma

Safely seated with Loleh

We waited patiently on grandparenthood. A grand baby has always been my motivation to work out, to be healthy, to feel good. When the moment finally arrived, I just felt awkward, but happy. How does one be a grandma to be remembered? That’s my goal, but it could be challenging.

That moment I met Loleh was surreal. There he was, being cute baby. All the waiting, preparation, anticipation and then discovery was forgotten in that moment. He was so tiny. I couldn’t remember Liz ever being that small but she was smaller. The first time I held him I was afraid I would hurt him. Slowly I got comfortable and worked up to standing to hold him. I never got comfortable carrying him anywhere.

 

Embrace Your Destiny: See the Future

No contacts needed on trips

I can see! I had no idea how great it would be to have 20/20 vision. I have never had good vision. My miracle vision is all due to a lens implant procedure my new optometrist recommended. The lens is called a PanOptix.Toric lens. 

They told me in recovery that it would take my brain a couple weeks to adjust to my new vision. Specifically, depth perception could be impacted. While this might be a nuisance for most people, for me, the impact was profound. 

 

Embrace Your Destiny: Challenge Perfection

Striving for improved walking

 “I’ve got you this time Perfection! Since being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis,  I have given myself a long term pass to forget about you.”

Perfection just laughs and says, “Judy, you can never escape me. I will always be there lurking in your mind. You see what you could do in your mind’s eye so you keep striving to achieve it. Am I wrong? I don’t think so.”

“Perfection, just GO. Get out of my head! You don’t control me but maybe my personality betrays me. I can’t seem to stop raising the “good” bar. Enough! I do what I can and that’s good enough.”

“I’m back in your head Judy. You have to accept me for what I am, a permanent  personality flaw. You are stuck with me.”