42

 Almost three weeks ago I celebrated my 42nd birthday. Because we were moving out of state 3 days later, my birthday was extremely low key. 

Elizabeth, Bob, and I went to the Indianapolis zoo for a couple of hours followed by lunch at a nearby brewery. When we got home from that excursion all of the kids, Bob, and I went to the neighboring town to do a bit of shopping. 

 Our kitchen was already packed up by then (which I didn't think about when my cake ingredients were purchased) so we skipped out on the homemade birthday cake and opted for a store bought one. 

I didn't mind the day. There was so much going on in the house trying to get ready for our move that the low key vibe was just perfect. 

May 18th

 Today is May 18th. 

For our family, today's date is one of those in which we will never forgot. All family's eventually have a date like this - the date that marks the before and after; The date in which your whole life is upended and irrevocably changed forever.  

May 18th is that date for us. 

8 years ago was Sarah's first ER visit. It was the first time Sarah's vision left her completely; The first MRI; The first lesions found; The first abyss into darkness. 

Today is the first day of our family's education into the deep seated belief in HOPE. 

When I was going through my initial grieving process mourning the life that I knew my daughter would no longer have a friend reached out with the following poem. I fell in love with its truth from the moment I first read its words. It is the perfect story to describe to a person the Before and After of a life unexpectedly altered. 

In honor of Sarah's diagnosis day, I would like to share that story with you again because it is worth repeating.

 

21

 

Yesterday Andy celebrated his 21 birthday. 

Andy chose to have a rather low key day. We went to his favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden, for lunch. We then went to a couple of local breweries in downtown Indianapolis and then came home and had a chill night. 

I think part of the reason the day was so low key is because we have a lot going on in our family. The boys are finishing up their first year of college and are taking finals this week. Our family is also planning a move to another state next week and are in the midst of packing up a life. 

For his birthday present Bob and I gifted Andy a trip to the Smoky Mountains. He will be going the first week of June to be in nature, unplug from life, re-calibrate, and climb some mountains. He will truly be in his element. 

February & March Reading List

 I feel like I am off to a slow start this year in terms of reaching my goal of reading 52 books this year. I am hoping that as the year progresses I can get back to spending more time reading and less time focused on the things that are currently taking up my time and energy. 

 

I really enjoy reading about the family life in Middle Eastern society. Although this book is set primarily in the United States, I enjoyed reading about the author's visits to the Middle East and the culture there. I don't know that I would read this book again, but I am glad that I read it once. 

This is the second or third time I have read Wild. There is something about a woman going through a hardship and dealing with her sh%t in her own way that is appealing to me. To see the author struggle and triumph, to grow and learn about herself is a genre of books that I will never tire of reading again and again. 

I am in the beginning(ish) stages of a significant weight loss journey. When I reach my goal, Bobby has told me that he would take me on a trip of my choice. I decided that I would like to revisit the Grand Canyon, but this time I would like to journey to the bottom of it and explore its trails and wonders there. After reading this book I definitely want to still do this, but I don't think I want to venture onto Havasupai lands. I can handle remote nature, but this seems like this is too remote for me. We will look into other routes to get to the bottom of the CG. 

I have a huge interest in marathon runners, particularly ultra marathon runners. There is something wildly appealing to me about people who have the mental ability to overcome all of the anguish and pain that comes with being an elite runner. I admire people who can do this. This was a good book. It is one that I am glad I read and may even read it again just because I have not found a ton of books on marathon runners of this caliber. 

The Lakota Sioux Indians are my favorite Indigenous tribes to read about. This book was suggested by another author I was reading, and so I requested it from the library and read it. It took me a while to get through it because the content is so think with information and history. I most likely will read this book again as it was so informative and is about a topic that interests me greatly. 

Again, another book about running. I enjoyed this book and will look into reading Adharanand's other book(s). I enjoy his writing style and find him to be an easy, light-hearted read. 

Had to finish out the series that I began to read in January...

Books Read:

January: 5

Feb/March: 8

Total: 13

A Trip To The Indianapolis Zoo

 The kids and I have had the opportunity to visit a good number of zoos over the years. Each one of them has their perks, but I think that my favorite zoo by far is the Indianapolis Zoo. The exhibit sizes are the biggest (for the animals) that I have seen in any zoo, and the animals seem much happier as they are consistently the most vocal, active, and interactive animals that I have come across. Because zoos are so visual, Sarah normally does not enjoy going to zoos; the one exception is the Indianapolis Zoo because the experience with the animals is as much auditory as it is visual. 

Our zoo membership expired back in October which is when these photos were taken. (I am a bit behind on posting some stuff.) I plan on renewing our membership if we end up staying in Indianapolis for one more year because we used it so much. The zoo's proximity to our house and its ease of use make it a much loved day trip. (We are waiting on Bob's employer to release us to a location of our choosing now that he is being converted to a full time work from home employee. If we get released before April we will be moving out of state in May when our lease here expires. If we don't get released in time then we will be here for one more year.)

Elizabeth and I took the trip below together and had a blast that day. The zoo wasn't too crowded, the weather was amazing, and it was nice to spend some alone time with her. The animals were so talkative that we spent quite a bit of time just hanging out at each exhibit watching them do their thing. 

We went just Halloween. The zoo was decorated for the occasion. They did a great job. 

These monkeys were SUCH chatterboxes when we were there. We probably spend 20-30 minutes just watching them move around their exhibit and talk/yell at each other. We even recorded the sounds they were making for Sarah to hear later on in the day because it was just so neat to hear them go on and on for such a long time. 

We had so much fun feeding the birds. It was just Elizabeth and I in their exhibit and you could tell that no one had been in for a while by the way they congregated around Elizabeth's food. 

I love the display the zoo has upon entering the African exhibit. 

You cannot tell in this picture, but these gals were running towards the water when we got to this part of their exhibit. It was pretty neat to see them run. 

The orangutan exhibit is by far the best exhibit I have ever seen. They have three stories of area to move around in and a TON of interactive items in their home. The window seen here is where the staff has their daily meetings. Often when we would come to the zoo the orangutans would gather around the window to watch the meeting. (Another really cool thing about this exhibit is that the animals have a ton of outdoor space as well. They have the ability to climb two stories in their outdoor space and it spans the perimeter of the entire building - which is huge).

January 2021 Reading List

I got off to a solid start this new year towards achieving my reading goal of 52 books a year. Here are the books I read this January:

I really enjoyed Kristin's follow up to her first book The Dirty Life. I would definitely read both books again. I really enjoy reading books about people who farm land themselves. I have a huge amount of respect for people (not corporations) that do so. 

I am not a huge fan of Bill O'Reilly's politics, so I have avoided reading his books for years. I figured that they would just be an extension of his political beliefs instead of facts about history. I cannot tell you why I picked up this book, but I did, and I can say that I actually enjoyed it for both the story it told and the way it was told. 

I don't know if it is just me, but I thought based on the title of this book that it would be all about Crazy Horse and the Sioux Indians. Wrong. Crazy Horse does not show up in this book until about 2/3 of the way through it. The book is mainly about Indian wars throughout the country - which is cool and all, but I felt that the title was very misleading. I don't like being bamboozled by an author especially when I feel that he used Crazy Horse to sell more books. I was willing to read this book because I enjoyed O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln - I don't know that I will pick up another one of his books now because this book had so little to do with Crazy Horse. I felt like I was misled. 

I cannot tell you why, but I had an itch to read this series over again, and so I am. I am pretty sure I will be team Jacob for ever. 

Total Number of Books Read: 

January - 5