Today is February 29th! Happy Leap Year Day! (And happy birthday to all those who have the coolest birthday date!) 😀 Today seemed to be a typical day considering that it is a unique date. Got up late, Muffy followed me around while I was trying to get ready quickly, went to get my finger poked to check my blood count, went to work, went to Children’s Hospital at the Liberty campus (about 40 south from Dayton) to fix my ear molds for my hearing aids. The new molds were like Dumbo ears, just huge and it feels like they are expanding the inside of my ear! So, after trying to fix them, we just ended up ordering new ones. We left and came home, I wrestled with my computer all evening until my Dad came home…somehow things always work for him. Checked my email and Shutterfly had sent me a coupon to receive 101 free prints! So, now I sit and blog while my pictures are being uploaded. Today was a typical day–minus the surprise free prints coupon. Thank you Shutterfly!
While I was waiting for my computer to unfreeze, I remembered a quote about Leap Year that I read a few weeks ago in my Mom’s magazine, Better Homes and Gardens. Although I cannot claim a “green thumb”..serious I kill any plant I try to grow…I really like the magazines. They have fun fashion tips, how to’s for decorating different rooms of your house, easy recipes and of course garden knowledge. This February issue they have a page about things to do for the rest of winter since the groundhog saw his shadow–thing number 2 reads,
TAKE THE LEAP
Save February 29 to check in with yourself. Write down what you hope to accomplish over the next four years and put your list someplace safe, to revisit in 2016. (BHG, February 2012, pg. 14)
This made me think of the past four years. I had some major achievements and life changing events: Two different types of chemo. Graduated from college. Trip to Greece. Started painting. Moved 8 times (HA! Bet your mouth dropped! 6 times were to different apartments); one big move across the states from CO to OH. Transferred jobs. And even a blood clot. Pretty big events for my planner. How am I even supposed to write down things for the next four years coming from that resume? 😀 I don’t even make New Year’s Resolutions.
I think the quote makes me realize one important thing that could sum up my feelings: EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. One would assume that in these past ten years with this disease that I would fully understand this statement. Folks, I SO DO NOT!!! I am a planner. I plan ahead, and when my life takes abrupt twists and turns, I get upset. I get frustrated when I have to change my plans. My biggest unknown at the moment is whether or not I can go back to my apartment that I just moved into in November. I have been out of my apartment more than in it between work, a family reunion at Thanksgiving, Christmas, plus chemo every other weekend so I would sleep here at my parent’s place, and my sister’s wedding in Colorado right after the New Year. Then the blood clot hit January 22. In the hospital I figured I would get better pretty quickly and be back to normal in a few weeks. My plans= out the window. (I had not even thought of the fact that I would have to wear a compression stocking.) Present day: My mom drives me to work (I am cash office so I sit for 2 hours), appointments, and church; I can’t lift heavy things and need someone to go up and down the stairs with me. I am gaining strength, just taking a lot longer than I thought.
So why do I have a problem with change? Maybe it is my pride? My expectations? I am not sure to be honest. I seem like I am a big oxymoron in the flesh. You know, my health changes all the time and yet I hate change. 🙂 But not all change is bad! The move out to Ohio deserves a post in itself. It was God planned, timed and detail oriented. I had three things I was not sure of when I started praying about the move: job, moving out of my apartment and leaving my roommates in a financial bind, and obviously my health. All in one week shortly after I started thinking and praying and brainstorming, they were answered in better ways imaginable! It is these sort of memories that I wish I could think of more often when I have days like today when I feel like I have hit a wall. These past four years have been one thing after another and yet I saw God in it all, especially the timing of it all.
So, since I lose paper and I am not at my apartment to put a note in my special box of what I hope to see in the next four years, I will just tell you. I hope to see more of God’s perfect timing in my life. I have seen it before, and I want to see it again. Best part is, I won’t be disappointed when the next February 29th comes by again. 😀 What do you hope to see?
My Life with NF2 