Embrace Your Destiny: Just Show Up

Practicing my contest speech 

"Just show up". This was the mantra of my friend Cozy I met at Capital YMCA in Raleigh, NC. Daughter Liz was one of his groupies. She worked out with him late in the afternoons and vouched for his authenticity and integrity. I was a novice to weight training but wanted to learn about it. He became my volunteer physical trainer. He instructed me what to do for each muscle group and monitored how I did it. I learned a lot from Cozy about the technical aspects of physical training, but probably the most important lesson I learned was to just show up. 

Over the past 20 years, I've worked the power of "just show up". For example, by committing to piano practice everyday I actually did a recital this spring. I have concluded that only I can do what I need to do to keep moving. For me, I think daily hot yoga, piano practice, and weight training is working. My efforts with public speaking and blogging are regular but not daily.  I think it is no coincidence that seeing improvement in my MS symptoms is directly linked to showing up - at the yoga studio, the gym, at Toastmasters, at my piano at at my computer.

Embrace Your Destiny: Celebrate Life

My Mother and her new "buggy"

I have been reminded this month that we all need to celebrate life, everyday. My mother, Cathy McLean just got her new buggy in March midway into her 95th year. She lives at Carolina Village in Hendersonville, NC at the Care Center. As she says, she can't see anymore having Macular degeneration, and she can't hear very well either. She does love to walk though. She has friends throughout the Carolina Village Medical and Care Centers that she sees often on her daily walks. Her mind has been pretty good except for short term memory. Dementia is there but on most days, she is fun to take on outings especially going out to eat. Family and friends love to visit her. 

But, on July 2, Mama fell and broke her hip. As the nurse at ER said, she broke it good. On July 3, the orthopedic surgeon operated and put a rod into her femur. Since then she has been living in the Medical Center. Life is not so good now. She willingly does the Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy but it is painful and really taxing on her system. I am the point person in the family and Medical POA so her condition daily is my reality of the moment.