My mind has all these thoughts flying around… I have started and stopped writing for the last couple weeks so many times, I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say. So I decided to do one of those “stream of consciousness” posts… whatever is on my mind I’m going to write about today. Reader beware… you’ve been warned. :)

This amazing rag quilt was made for my daughter’s 16th birthday by my good friend at Williamsville Arts

In the last couple weeks I have learned how to sew… seriously. A very, very close friend came and stayed with me for a few days and she taught a few of us how to make rag quilts. It was the best time I’ve had in a long time. We literally got up in the morning and worked from morning until late at night. There was great food, great conversation and so much smiling and laughter in the room that it didn’t matter how much pain I was in. The pain was worth it! You’ve heard of, “No Pain, No Gain”… well I think my new saying is going to be, “No Pain, No Fun”. I’m good with that. I will endure the pain if it means I can spend time with friends and family and have a fun time. There may have been physical pain, but there was definitely no anxiety because it was just a small group of us, everyone is low maintenance and easy. Hanging out with no anxiety is an awesome thing. You know what I mean… you can be in a room full of people that you know and there’s still a level of anxiety that is hard to ignore. For me, crafting with friends is always such a great time. No depression… no anxiety… no grey clouds hanging over my head… perfection!

There was definitely pain. I was also able to get through the pain because I started and ended my day with my husband putting this Warming CBD Muscle Rub all over my neck, shoulders and back. I was asked to give it a try and I’ll tell you, this stuff is pretty awesome. Now every time I have significant pain, I put this stuff on and it really makes a difference. After having tried so many things for my pain, I’m pretty hesitant to try anything new… now my husband is asking me when I’m going to get more. This is the first time in a long time I’ve used something this much. The sewing week-end was a great test. Each morning and night I was in a pretty significant amount of pain. We were sitting in chairs in front of our sewing machines for hours and hours. I could barely move… If you are looking for something new and all natural to try, you should give it a try. The folks at the Fay Farm are very nice and I’m a believer now. I’m not getting anything out of recommending this… I just know that there have been many times that I wished someone would just tell me what worked/ didn’t work for them. I’m not really going to say what didn’t work because I don’t want to down anybody’s products (and honestly just because something doesn’t work for me doesn’t mean it it won’t work for someone else)… but I will share the stuff that works for me. Deal? Deal!

And can I just say that after this week-end of awesome fun and laughter… I went through the following week with some not so fun shit to deal with. Excuse my language. Let me tell you… and this is going to be TMI, but I can’t really tell the story without giving some details. Over my sewing week-end I noticed some bleeding, post-menopausal bleeding. I’m thinking, “No big deal…” When I ask my friends what they think… they are like, “You better call the doctor!” We all know how much fun going to the doctor is. Why not just make the appointment, walk out the house, stand outside for 15 minutes, come back in and say to yourself… “There’s nothing wrong with you, it’s just a side effect of the Fibromyalgia.” That’s pretty much how I feel everytime someone recommends I go to the doctor. Anyway! I made the appointment and went in and let me just say… I was perfectly calm… I will even say I was just going through the routine when the doctor says to me… “Well, I think we need to take a biopsy, we can do it now or you can make an appointment to come back. I generally tell my patients to take an Ibuprofen before doing a biopsy to help with the pain.” Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm… queue laughing track. I literally asked her if the difference between me getting the biopsy now or later was taking some Ibuprofen and she said yes. Well considering Ibuprofen is like eating candy for me (a nasty tasting candy that you aren’t supposed to chew), I went through with the procedure. DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! That hurt. She was good, she talked me through it… but I was definitely not prepared for that kind of pain. While I’m sitting there eating my graham crackers and drinking the juice they gave me to bring my blood sugar back to normal, I tell the doctor that I am scheduled to travel and be out of town for a few days. She gets all hesitant and to make a long story short, she tells me she needs to be able to get a hold of me in case we need to make plans. I’m like, plans for what? I mean I am starting to freak out now. She’s hesitating with me and telling me that in case it’s cancer, she will need to get a hold of me. I’m sorry… “WHAT?” I came in here to hear you tell me that it’s no big deal, it’s just a side effect of Fibromyalgia and you are telling me it might be cancer? Not what I bargained for. So, needless to say I spent a few days mostly convinced nothing was wrong with me, but still slightly concerned I had cancer. Results came back benign but here’s where you actually want to walk away hearing that it’s just the Fibro. It really made me think. It’s the one and ONLY time I have ever actually wished a doctor would tell me my problem is not a problem that can be treated because it’s the Fibro or I would have even taken that look of “Why are you here, there’s nothing really wrong with you” that some doctors give when they don’t really believe Fibromyalgia is a real thing. Makes ya think, huh? Another lesson learned. I could have done without this lesson, thank you very much!

When did my kids grow up? I mean where was I when they became these young adults walking around the house? I am looking at my life and thinking I really am kinda hitting my mid-life (hahahaha! Hitting? How about hit awhile ago!). When is that mid-life crisis going to come? I’d like a tiny bit of warning because I’m already dealing with so much crazy… to add to it?? Please give me some warning!! I’ve always wanted a convertible… so that’s not really an indication. And honestly, I don’t want any specific anything so much that it screams, “I AM YOUNG AGAIN!”. What I really want most these days is to go to the beach for a couple weeks somewhere tropical and do nothing but read, lay in the shade, watch the sunrise and set… eat good food AND most important I’d really love while I’m on the flight over to this magical place to go through some kind of Bermuda (but not “the” Bermuda) Triangle that results in everyone becoming… let’s just say looking and feeling like their perfect weight/ size. Can I get that for my mid-life crisis? Where can I book this trip? I’ll take the pain (well I’ll take the pain as long as it doesn’t get any worse than it is now… always a caveat)… but like I was saying… I’ll take the pain for the beauty of a tropical beach, some great chick lit books, yummy food and of course the company of my husband! The having a great body part would just be over the top, but damn wouldn’t that be wonderful! I’d love to talk more about the weight thing… but that would just drag me down and it’s not worth getting depressed over – just these few words has affected my happy feeling… soooooooo STOP! Let’s go back to thinking about the beach.

I guess I will settle for a drive over to Santa Cruz for a day to watch the sunset (which by the way is pretty damn amazing!) every now and then. I just need it every few weeks so I can get to that zen feeling. You know that awareness when you look at the ocean that your life’s worries and challenges are so small against the vastness of the universe. That this world God created is awesome and how blessed we all are to live and how important it is to take advantage of our natural surroundings. I need the reminder to get out of my own head. It’s so easy to get caught up in work or just life in general that you forget to actually enjoy life.

So my moral for today is to enjoy your life. Find a way to balance the pain so you can have fun, laugh, love, feel the joy of living. If you don’t remember what that’s like, go outside and find some solitude at the beach, at a park, at a pond… in your backyard. Wherever you can go that will allow you to breathe in the fresh air, meditate for a bit, appreciate your surroundings and realize you are alive and you deserve to live a good life!!

Or… you can always sit down and write your own stream of consciousness… I promise you, you’ll feel better for it. Even if it doesn’t make sense to anyone else, it will make sense to you… and that’s really all that matters.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read today. I wish you a relaxed morning, day, evening wherever you are.

Gentle Hugz.

Tamiko