And I love the email.
Yup. I said it. Even when I'm so far behind in so many other areas of my life (enough so that I get a critical "Well then how do you have time to blog?!" scolding),* I still love it.
I started a Q&A post on my photo blog and it cut out a lot of the time I spent replying with answers (often times to the same questions). So while I love the email (you'll still send them right, even if I don't reply?), I'm doing a quick Q&A right here. Right now (cue the Van Halen).
*About the finding time to blog thing- sometimes, like this week's posts, I will sit down and kick out five posts or so and set them to auto publish. It's a great little feature that makes it look like I'm more 'functionally present' than I might actually be! :)
1. Q: Do you spend a lot of time at the outlet mall? Where do you go?
A: I don't really. Maybe once or twice a year (this year it happened to be three times) but it's where I've done the majority of my shopping over the last three years. I try to spend less than $15 on shirts so the outlet is a good place to do that. I used to be slightly obsessed with clothes (in college) so I have a lot of pieces from then that I still wear (jeans excluded..... but that's a whole other post). We try to get to MN once a year so I stop at the Medford Outlet on the way to the cities. I also want to make a tradition of meeting my cousin in KC at the Ledges! (Or at the very least talking R into stopping there on our trips south). I've been to Tanger in Williamsburg but only if we are on that side of the state for something already (I think I've been there three times?) and if we happen to vacation near an outlet, you can bet we'll be stopping. On that note- know of any good ones I need to check out?
2. Q: What treatment plan are you on for autoimmune?
A: None. At one point I was on 16 pills a day, including steroids. I found it wasn't making a positive difference in my health so I quit. Diet (ha), exercise (double ha), and low stress levels (I don't even need to say it) are the best treatment plan. I have figured out some of my triggers and it helps to avoid those (alcohol, certain hormones, &, oddly enough, too much cinnamon).
3. Q: You guys seem so happy. How do you do it?
A: Well thanks but I think it's one of those 'always greener on the other blog' type of things. It's true, R&I are happy, but only when we choose to be. When we choose a Christ focus and work hard at it, life is good. But we slip up. A lot. We're just like you. Scratch that. You are probably way better at it than us. Ha. We do have an awesome Christian counselor that we hang out with once a month (or six weeks or whenever we can get in). It's great for accountability. It encourages you to 'walk the talk' so to speak. I admit that sometimes we've spent our entire 50 minutes talking about basketball and asking about his kids so it may seem silly go have gone. But there are plenty of other times that I've shed tears, prayed for forgiveness, and learned a lot about life. And I recommend it.
4. Q: I don't know how you guys handle all that you've been through. How do you do it?
A: Ha. See question 3.
The only thing I have to add here is that I realize how good we do have it. It's true that our life has turned out much different than we ever planned, but in a lot of ways it's better because of it. There are relationships in my life that I thought I'd have and I don't. There are health issues we thought we'd never have to deal with (at least until we were 'old'). There are spiritual issues that tug on us. All that being said- I know there are a lot of people in this world with a lot bigger mountains. But the reality of it is that we are all facing our own mountains.
I think back to being 14 when my biggest problem was fitting in. Now it seems silly, but at the time it was huge to me. And really- in many ways, life is easier now than it was then.
On that note- I don't blog about life's mountains with a 'poor us' attitude. But this is my record keeper. My outlet. My blog. And I love having a place to vent, to share, and to remember. Just last week I was looking back at old posts and loved seeing how far we had come.
I don't do this blog for anyone else but us (yes, I'm selfish like that). So while I love that you hang out here, I don't expect you to read any post titled 'blah blah blah' or any others for that matter! I'm just glad to hang out in the blog world with ya!
Okay that's enough way too much for today. Thanks for all the blog love, friends!
