Tune-in-Tuesday: June 29, 2021

I just realized that I have not updated this blog is almost a month! That's partly because I haven't had time and partly because I haven't really had anything to update everyone on. So here I am, squeezing in a post (or at least the beginnings of a post) before I have to leave for an appointment in a hour. 

The past few weeks have been pretty good overall. I did fall once and of course bloodied my knee, but that's my life. I fall, I get bloody, I get up and carry on. ;) 

This week is BIG in my family. We have so many birthdays and anniversaries within 10 days it's not even funny! It is fun though!! I love birthdays and celebrating. It's just such a fun time of year for my family. I'm thankful though that my mom and dad chose June to be the big month of celebrations because I need the 6 months in between June and Christmas to save money. :) 

One thing I did want to mention is that I'm (finally!) reading the book my brother and sister-in-law got me for Christmas. (I know, I know...it's 6 months later and I'm finally getting to it, but better late then never, right?!) It's a book I requested. It's titled No Time Like the Future. OH.MY.GOODNESS. Why did it take me 6 months to delve into this book?!?!?! It's like someone gets me. I feel like I'm reading a book about myself. Now - just to clarify - I do NOT have Parkinson's (nor do I ever want Parkinson's) like Michael J. Fox does, but holy moly, some of the stuff he talks about in this book - it's like I'm looking in a mirror. There are similarities (in our symptoms) between Parkinson's and dystonia. But believe me, I so got the better deal. I would take dystonia a million times over Parkinson's. Anyway, what he writes in this book is so similar to what I experience and go through that I now can not read the book without a pen in hand to underline sentences and paragraphs that are so relevant to me. 

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Ya'll - I am SO SORRY!! I started writing the above on June 8. It's now June 29 and I haven't posted what I wrote above or anything else since May 18- AHHH!!! Sheesh. It HAS been a busy time, but that's still no excuse. So...here's what's been going since May 18 to catch us ALL up! ;) I'm literally getting my calendar out out to make sure I remember everything I've done!

I'm still reading through Michael J. Fox's book and it's still blowing me away. I'm still underlining almost every other sentence. I almost don't want it to end.

A lot of my time has been spent helping take care of my mom who is recovering from shoulder replacement surgery. I've been driving her to physical therapy appointments and helping make meals. In regard to the meals: she's told me what to do and I've been her arms. I'm not a cook at all. My mom is, but it's been fun (most of the time!) learning her recipes and how she cooks them. 

I spent Memorial Day weekend with my family at my brother's house on the lake. While the "holiday" of Memorial Day is one of sadness and remembrance, the time spent with family and friends is wonderful. Thank you to all those who died so that I might be free. 

I went to Dollywood with my Mom and my oldest niece on June 4. We had so much fun. Dollywood was still celebrating their "Rhythm and Blooms" festival and the park was decked out with all sorts of beautiful flowers. I brought my walker with me and I'm so glad I did. For amusement parks, I need to use the walker. It's so much easier to get around. My niece, when she got tired of walking, rode my walker while I pushed. She also took a million selfies of us (some of which I knew about, but some of which I did not!) on my phone. :) My niece got me to go on this pirate ship pendulum ride that I thought I was going to die on. I do NOT do heights (or for that matter any roller coasters or rides that make you feel like you're falling). She sweet talked me into going on this ride. Note to self: do not go on that ride again. Once was enough for me. :) We DID have a blast riding the Raging Rapids water ride. That is my all-time favorite ride at Dollywood. I of course (not wanting to get soaked) got soaked while my niece (wanting to get soaked) hardly got soaked at all! We all three had fun watching the shows and eating all the eats. It was also national doughnut day that day and we each got a free doughnut at Krispy Kreme before we even hit the park. It was such a fun, fun day!!!

Dollywood!

All of this was edible - even the flowers!

One of the biggest updates I have is the arrival of my 4th niece on June 7. Like I stated before, June is a HUGE month of celebration in my family. My middle brother and I actually share the same birthday - June 12. We are not twins - there are 7 years between us. Then he decided to get married on our birthday. His third daughter was due the day before our birthday (and her parents anniversary), which also happens to be my parent's anniversary. But she arrived via C-section on her own day to celebrate. I'm in love with her. It doesn't get much sweeter then holding a newborn baby. If you know me at all, you know that one of my favorite titles in life is that of Aunt Stephanie. It doesn't get much better than that!

On my birthday, my parents surprised me with a day in Nashville. My mom and I had a blast. We had lunch at Blake Shelton's Ole Red restaurant. We then took a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry where we got to have our picture taken in the iconic circle on the iconic Opry stage. Then we wandered about Madame Toussaint's Wax Museum. After that, we got Dippin Dots (although they were called something else) out of a vending machine in the Opry Mills Mall. I got birthday cake flavor because after all it was my birthday. Then the big event came: Mom had gotten her and I tickets to the Grand Ole Opry that night to see Steven Curtis Chapman, Tracey Lawrence, Rhett Akins and Thomas Rhett. I had mentioned to her just a week or so before that, that Thomas Rhett was going to be preforming on my birthday in Nashville. However, I had no expectation of ever going because I thought it was way too late to get tickets. This is where God works ALL things together for good (even the small things). My mom literally got the last two tickets available to the show and the only way she was able to get them is because one of them was for a handicapped individual (i.e. wheelchair bound) and a guest. This meant that there was one seat and a space for a wheelchair. Well, I'm not confined to/nor use a wheelchair, but after using just my cane for the first few stops on my birthday adventure, I opted to use my walker for the Madame Toussaint's tour and the Opry Mills walking. It was SO MUCH easier to get around. So for the show, I once again used my walker and opted to sit in it for the entire concert. It was MUCH comfier then the hard back chair they offered me. And there you have it, because of my walker, Mom and I were able to obtain the last two tickets to a show I had really wanted to see and on my birthday no less! I, of course had to get a poster of the event because it had my birthday on it! This was also a full circle moment as the last concert (before the COVID pandemic hit) Mom and I saw (she's my concert-going buddy!) was on October 10, 2019 and it was Thomas Rhett and his dad, Rhett Akins opened for him. I also got a poster at that concert. Now, the first concert we went to after the COVID pandemic was Thomas Rhett with his dad, Rhett Akins opening for him. You can't tell me that wasn't God-ordained!! We ended the night by staying overnight with friends, Chris and Sandy, who had recently purchased a new home in Murfreesboro, TN. It was such a great birthday and one where beautiful memories were made. 

So fun!!

Full Circle

On June 18 and 19 my mom, dad, my oldest niece and I went to Kentucky. We left on the night of the 17th and made it to Williamstown, KY. On our way, we stopped in Lexington and ate at a "fancy" Italian restaurant. The next day while in Williamstown, we toured the Ark Encounter. If you haven't been, you really should go. It's massive (as the Ark was!) and really something to behold. We spent about 6 hours there. There's a lot to read and take in, but with a 6 year old in tow, we skipped a lot of the reading and went right to the exhibits. It was fascinating and enthralling. The Ark is the length of 3 football fields. So, I once again used my walker (although I took my cane with me too). It is so much easier on adventures like these to use the walker. Yeah, I sometimes get stares, but overall, people are super kind and accommodating and I can (for the most part) keep up with those I'm with. My dad reminded me as we were going to get breakfast at the hotel that I can't help it. He said he saw some men smoking outside the hotel. They have a choice. They can choose to stop smoking. I can't choose to walk normal. Oh yes, deep brain stimulation surgery helped in a big way, but I still have issues and probably always will. It just is what it is. :) Anyway, I used the walker at the Ark Encounter. It didn't dampen the day or the experience at all. As a side note, the Ark Encounter is completely handicap accessible, so if you too are handicap, don't let that keep you from going. We had so much fun at the Ark. Inside the Ark, it's all air-conditioned (praise Jesus because it was 90 degrees out when we went) and there are three levels. I was in awe to see everything. I had heard from someone at our hotel that the Amish helped build it (the replica, not the original - in case you were confused - haha!). There were lots of Amish and Mennonite families visiting the Ark the same day we were. We met some Hutterites at our hotel. It was interesting meeting and interacting with all of them. After the Ark Encounter, we drove back near Lexington and stayed overnight at Shaker Village. That was a fun experience and my niece commented that she loved the hotel room much more than the one we stayed at in Williamstown. :) We ate dinner at Shaker Village and enjoyed live music and the grounds that evening. I was able to get around with just my cane. The next day, we drove into Lexington and took a bus tour of horse farms. My niece is hugely into horses these days and we had a blast learning all about the different farms we visited and the horses there. We were able to pet the horses and feed them peppermints (Who knew they liked peppermints? It was news to me!). I again was able to get around just using my cane, which I was very thankful for because we were rather squished in the bus (i.e. no room to bring a walker!). After the horse farm tour, I thought we were done and would be heading back home, but Mom and Dad had one more surprise for me. We took a 20 minute detour and visited my college campus. I graduated from Asbury College (now University) in 2002 and hadn't been back to the campus since. It's in a little town called Wilmore. The campus hadn't changed a bit and had radically changed all in the same breath. My dorm building, the administration building, the chapel and buildings that I took classes in were still the same and yet there has been so many new buildings added on and to the campus in the 19 years that I've been away. But, it still felt like home. My niece was stunned to learn that I lived there for 4 years - haha! We couldn't go in any of the buildings as they were all locked, but just seeing them and the campus did me good. I only used my cane to get around. At one point, I went off on my own in search of the new media communications building, which I found, and as I walking back to my family, I thanked the Lord that I didn't have problems walking while I was a student there. I think had my dystonia been in full force back then, I would have had some trouble getting around. But then again, who knows, maybe not. God works everything out for our good! After the college campus tour, we made it back home safely to Tennessee. 

The Ark Encounter

Where we stayed in Shaker Village

On our Horse Farm Bus Tour

On my college's campus

I've been struggling just recently (the last few days) with walking. I don't why. I checked by deep brain stimulation settings and everything's fine there (still on 3.60 volts on frequency A). I gave myself a little scare when I could not find my DBS remote in my purse, but then I looked in my walker (there's storage attached to it) and found it - whew! I have a big callous on the bottom of my left foot that's really hurting (it's from not walking "correctly"). Or maybe it's not a callous, because I don't think callouses hurt - maybe it's a blister. Maybe that's what's causing me problems. Who knows really. It's the rhythm of my life. :) The best news though is that I haven't fallen since May.  Hopefully I haven't just jinxed myself. 

I've had many fun adventures over the past month and half and I'm very thankful for all of them and for being able to do them, even with issues walking. It just goes to show you, that even with disabilities in life, you can still have a full, fun life. I won't think back on these adventures and think of the walker or the cane or any difficulty, I'll think back on them with wonderful memories of getting to see one of my favorite performers in concert, getting to pet a kangaroo, experiencing fine dining with my family, listening to music out on open fields, getting to show one of my nieces where I went to school, asking a horse to smile and him actually smiling, sweating buckets and all the million other memories we made.

Thank you for reading my book. I'll try not to let so much time pass before updating again.

Always remember...God's Got This!