Take Step After Step, Even In The Dark...

I want to tell you about something that I'm thinking - and wondering if you agree or not?! It doesn't seem to be about how bad we are (in terms of hurt after some kind of trauma). It seems to be more about if we want to put in enough of the right sort of effort to make a change. Do we want to walk. Want to get better. A friend of mine who had cancer hated those words - and they may be BS... I don't know.

It's not easy. Sometimes we all have real, real, real horrible days. I had those days and still do sometimes. But overall, we just have to keep going. And if we do, even though we often can't see the daily progress, it is there. Progress happens. We have to keep taking step after step, even in the dark... In the early stages Pilates is the best form of exercise I found - and I tried everything. Pilates and walking - on flat ground and then on uneven ground, such as the grass in the park or the beach. A pilates class is the best but there is a DVD here which is very useful to practice with - just click on the photo or HERE.

I was quite excited to notice something last night... I went to a salsa dance club. Five years ago, the dancing seemed too fast for me to do. Way too fast. I took lessons - tons of lessons - and then slowly, after about a year, the dancing seemed to slow down and I could do it. Magical! I had a great couple of years. There's a good DVD of salsa lessons here - click on the photo above or HERE...

Then I had this other accident almost 3 years ago - just a minor car accident and whiplash. I didn't go dancing at all for over a year and when I did, it was just incredibly fast again and there was no way I could do it. I was so upset. I went several times (just in case I'd been wrong?!) and every time it was way too fast. I still took lessons, although all of the progress I'd made before had just disappeared and I had to start from scratch. First I was too dizzy to spin at all. Then, slowly I could spin just once now and again...

Last night, finally, I noticed the dancing seemed to be a tiny bit slower again! Gingerly I tried, with a partner I knew from lessons - thank you Joe. I found I could manage a little. At last! It had been 3 whole years and a ton of lessons since I was able to dance. I was over the moon!

Stamina is something else and is still a problem for me - I used to be able to work full time and do 3 lessons a week plus go out dancing - and more. For a long while - over a year - I was able to do nothing other than rehab in the hospital. Slowly I added walks on the beach and kept up my vitamin schedule. Now I'm working just part-time and can only manage one lesson a week and the odd evening out. But that's better then a year ago and I think it still getting better - I just can't always see it. I have to take my own advice and be patient and keep trying too!

I guess what I'm saying is this: if you keep trying then slowly - very slowly - things will come into focus again. They will slow down, as it were. It's not easy to keep going when you think you see impossibility around you. But somehow you have to keep going. Eventually the impossible may become possible.

Have a lovely sunny day, with a hug, Julie

A Double - no, Triple - Celebration!

HAPPY BLOGGERS DAY!


Happy Canada Day (July 1st) and Independence Day (July 4th) - and may I also declare this (Jul 7th) Bloggers Day...

My hat is off to all the bloggers out there. It's tough to find the time to actually go and be part of celebrations, photograph them, download your pictures, photoshop them, write a blog and upload your finished photos.

When I started my blog, I only allowed 5 - 10 minutes every day to do it! Ha! It takes over an hour sometimes - so I now have a new appreciation of all the blogs I read.

I had another realization the other day too: one of my favourite bloggers didn't blog and I felt a loss? I was a bit surprised because I had always wondered what the real value was (to be honest) and did I really want to know what was going on for everybody? But. Turns out I do! It's become a very integral part of me. I have several blogs and update emails (as I call them) delivered to my inbox every day. And although on busy days I only read the subject line, on others I open and read bits and pieces that are relevant to me to grab my attention. It's become an important part of my everyday life and my personal ReBuilding.

And I miss you - them (my blogs!) - when they're not there.

So Happy Blogging Day!

And sincere thanks to the policeman who allowed us to park so we could see the fireworks from the car - disability is much easier to bear when officials use a sense of fairness together with the rules... And rooves of cars are so much more friendly than wheelchairs!

Last Day On The Road...

Today we drove through extremes of scenery - from arid desert-like hills with salt bushes and great chasms - to the alpine, twisting roads of the Fraser Canyon. We passed gold mining rivers and dusty towns that had come and gone with the gold rush. We passed tourist attractions and run down roadside stops - including one totally over-the-top Elvis themed cafe run by a very unhappy man... Somehow we missed Hope, where we intended to stop for a while and drove on to Chilliwack. Neither of us were ready to end our holiday and enter the so-called civilized world... We stopped and Marilyn soothed her angst with a fabulous camera. I bought a part for my GPS and a teeshirt. Eventually we could delay it no longer and drove the last few miles. Our week had been great and after we polished up the motorhome and left it in my friend's field, we bought some of the delicious Blackberry Wine - the one that goes so well with white chocolate fudge - to tide us over until the next trip.

Thursday

I woke up late and took a coffee and chair over to the lakeside. The mosquitos swarmed me but I tried to ignore them and drink in the serenity all around me. Suddenly, above the trickling and lapping sound of the lake, I could hear slow, deep rolls of distant thunder.
We were in a valley with steep, rolling mountains covered in blackened pine-beetled trees as far as the eye could see.

Earlier we had seen a bear, calmly eating grass and I imagined the forests around me teaming with wildlife that I couldn’t see. It took us an hour to wash ourselves and last nights dishes and to get our rig ready for the road. Just as we were about to leave there was a violent crack of thunder and huge drops of rain started to fall. As we drove away, everything had turned grey, little rivulets formed and the sound of thunder and rain on the metal roof of the motorhome sank both Marilyn and I into a kind of reverie.

Wednesday

After polishing and cleaning up and filling the camper with water – and sharing a fabulous brunch with Allan, we were on the road again, feeling satisfied – even exuberant - about our trip. We left Prince George and drove through rusted brown forests destroyed by the pine beetle – Julie had not realized how serious the pine beetle problem was. We were saddened to see thousands upon thousands of acres of devastation.

Next stop Barkerville. What we hadn’t realized was that this historic gold-mining town had closed at least 3 hours before we arrived. There were chains on the gates – but a guardian angel appeared and agreed to give us a personal tour in his trusty pickup. It was such a treat to wander through the deserted streets – without tourists it was so much easier to imagine life as it was when the town was built in 1858. The very first town in BC. I was thrilled to find a library and even more thrilled to sit inside and check out the dusty exhibits.





















We found another beautiful spot by the side of the road next to a huge lake without a house in site. This time I entertained Julie with stories of bears who were clever enough to open doors. Good thing we have a fierce guard dog who barks at her own tail! After three hours of swatting mosquitos, we fell asleep.

Monday - D-Day (day of the conference)

At 7am Allan had the coffee on and wordlessly we went through all the usual morning rituals. Both of us had a whole swarm of butterflies in our stomachs! Just minutes before our presentation, we learned that the Mac can’t just plug into the projector and we needed a special connector. ‘Beyond Hope’s’ wonderful IT men – thank you Roy and Nathan – went out shopping for us and all was well that ended so very well.

As I was sitting frozen – and zombie-like – knowing that everything that could be going wrong seemed to be happening. Julie sneaked out of the room and discovered that the IT people brought back the wrong connector. The presentation was only 15 minutes away… After a few more technical disasters attended to by our heroic IT guys and a last-minute room change, Julie and I began our session. The next hour and a half passed in a blur and we were left with the glowing feeling that our talk had been well received.

The rest of the conference was fantastic – it was neat being able to put a face to some of the names I’ve only read about. We also got to visit the Chief Librarian’s corn snake, Darth Slitherous, who resides in the children’s area and feasts on a diet of weekly mouse. The next day felt like a huge hangover – despite which we were at the conference by 11 o’clock so that we could enjoy some of the other sessions including a fabulous yoga session.