Living In Transition…

I am pretty sure that I have mentioned this before but I am a person of routine. I like consistency and having a schedule because it keeps me on track and focused. Here we are in the middle of August and my life has not had one bit of order or consistency since the beginning of June! This has been great and hard all at the same time. It began in June with a road trip with my 12 year old daughter

down to San Diego to see this handsome man (my nephew) graduate High School…

And this beautiful woman (my niece) graduate college…

My whole family was there

and it was great because getting the entire family together hardly ever happens. I even got to meet my sister in laws parents from Poland! 

My mom and Papa Freddiecaravanned back to Oregon with Nat and I as I had mastectomy #2 in the middle of June and they wanted to be here to help hold down the fort while I was laid up.

Three weeks after surgery and two days after my second drain was removed the four of us set off for Arizona to visit with Mr. Wonderful’s family. I sure do love all these little people in my life… And because he is wonderful, Mr. Wonderful planned a bit of adventure on the way down

and on the way home…

Bridger (our youngest) added to the adventure by getting heat exhaustion for the second year in a row which included fever and vomiting for most of our trip home. (holding a grocery sack full of puke for a half hour in the car is quite an adventure…)

Once we arrived home it was discovered that I have fluid pooling in places it shouldn’t be pooling which involves twice weekly trips to Eugene (2.5 hours away) for the entire Fall season for Physical Therapy and last but not least our house sold and closed and we moved a few miles up the river in our little town.

I am excited about our new house adventure but we moved from a house with a ton of storage to a house with no storage (and lavender paint in the master bedroom). So while we are unpacked enough to function there are still a ton of boxes around waiting to have shelving built so the stuff inside the boxes will have a home.

It’s been a good, hard, fun, emotional summer to this point and I am grateful for all that God has done and is doing in our lives. Oh! I forgot to mention Allstars! Traveling up the coast every weekend for 5 weeks for little league baseball games in the end of June and beginning of July. We ♥ Baseball!!

I think the hardest part has been trying to maintain any sort of routine in the midst of all the upheaval. I covet my early morning time. It’s my “me” time. I read my bible, journal, pray, write and run. These are the things that keep me sane and give me the strength to face whatever is going to happen that day. This is the last time I ran…

It was an 8 mile run in my happy place and it was in June. Today is August 12th. With all the late nights, traveling, surgery and moving there have been no early mornings in a long time. I miss it. I miss all of it. I told Mr. Wonderful the other day that even though there is a lot to get done in the house that I need to get back to going to bed early so that I can get up early and do the things that make me feel like me. I got the okay to begin exercising again (albeit with moderation because of the fluid thing) and I set four alarms on my phone this morning so that I would get up and get on with my day.

Life means always being in some form of transition as that is the way this life is. What I am trying to figure out is how to stay grounded when the transition part takes over for a season. I want to learn how to continue to carve out my “me” time even if the mornings become impossible for a while. When I am not grounded, insecurities, fear and worry begin to take over. When I am not journaling out all of the things that I am grateful for I forget about all of the good things that God is doing in my life, when I am not reading my bible I forget about His  promises and my prayers become inconsistent. And writing? Well, it helps me gain perspective when I get the thoughts in my head in a place where I can read them and be reminded of why I am where I am or about some funny thing that happened recently or just to connect with other people walking through the ups and downs of life right along with me.

So, today I got up early. I read, I wrote, I prayed and now I am going to go for a walk. I am hoping to be able to get back in shape enough for the Prefontaine 10k in the middle of September. It’s gonna be close but I’m up for the challenge.

How do you stay grounded in the midst of seasons that involve major transition? I’d love to hear about what works for you.

Have a great day my friends!

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