Growing up

A few years after my open heart surgery, my family moved from Chicagoland to the Pacific Northwest. I was 6 and a half when we moved.

Around 5 or 6 years old in Chicago. I think this is a sweet, rare photo of me in a dress.

 

(L) My second year of 1st grade. (Yes, I took it twice. That’s what happen when you move and are really shy.) and (R) kindergarten. Please notice the amazing cutting work on these pictures. Done by yours truly, ages 5 & 7. I’m better at this now.

As I mentioned in my last post, there is no cure for CHD. I spent many days going to cardiology appointments. For a while, it was once a year, then twice a year. There was a period of time I got to go only once every two years, which was short lived as I hit puberty and my cardiologist knew I needed to be monitored more often.

On a family vacation. This is a picture of my brothers and me. Unlike the photo above of me in a dress, this is much closer to my “normal” as a kid. And check out that mullet!

My “normal” has always been a little off from actual “normal.” For instance, I’ve always had restrictions on what sports I may participate in. When I was in 5th grade, I participated in track, only to be chastised by my cardiologist. “Don’t you know you aren’t supposed to run track?!? Don’t you hear the new stories of kids dropping dead on the running track!?!” Oops! (If you are wondering, I got the green light to play soft ball, and be in a bowling league.)

Because of these physical limitations, I was not allowed to participate in P.E.. That awkward, learn to shower at school with classmates situation – I never lived it. It also meant I got to take a ton of extra electives in High School. (Lots of Art!)

Piano recital. I took around 5 years of lessons. I played ok, but I was terrible at actually putting in time to practice. That dress!

 

I have always loved reading. This was probably from my Jr. High years. Hanging out with our golden retriever.

Medically speaking, everything is always more complicated for me. In high school, when I needed to have my wisdom teeth removed, no one would touch me because I was such a risk. I had to have them out up at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

When I had a very unusual case of gall stones the summer before my senior year of college, I had to have extra tests just to make sure it was not being caused by my heart. Apparently my blood was breaking down faster than it was supposed to. This resulted in hard conversations about “What happens if they say I’m dying?” Thankfully, that was not the case and I was able to return to college and complete my degree.

As most of you likely know, more recently, my heart health made for some high risk pregnancies. (You can read more about that here.)

I’ve been blessed and am very fortunate to live what I call “bonus time.”  If you think about it, we are all in bonus time – I just happen to have tangible proof.

Thank you for reading my story. Come back soon to find out “What’s Next.”

Advertisement

Go Sports

I’ve blogged about sports quite a bit, since I love the Seattle Mariners along with several other Pacific North West teams (and a few Edmonton teams).

If you’ve read along, or know me at all, you know I’ve not had the best luck as a sports fan. You can read more about that here and here.

But I wanted to add something I wrote as a facebook post.  These were my thoughts the day after My Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl:

I realize for most of the US of A, yesterday’s game was incredibly boring. For the people of Seattle, and for those of us who grew up in Seattle and have always been Seattle sports fans… this was a long time in coming. The game was Incredible to watch. Seriously, that was the fasted the Super Bowl was ever played (or so it seemed to me).

The last time one of the “big 4” professional sports teams won for Seattle was before I was born.

To paraphrase something my brother told his young girls last night as the game ended – ‘Hey! Listen up. Enjoy this. It might never happen again.’ You see, he’s a Bears fan. We lived in Chicago when he was about 7 years old. We saw the Monsters of the Midway win…. It might only happen once in your life (or at least it can feel that way).

So to all the sports fans who don’t live in New York, or New England, or city with a dynasty team. To those that don’t see their team win all the time, or expect another championship is right around the corner – this entire year was pretty fun. Last night was just the celebration of a something we Seattle fans knew all along, our team was incredibly good. Keep rooting for your team. Someday, it might be you watching the Best Championship Game of your life, even if the rest of the country could care less.

Me? I’m going to enjoy this a bit. Let it sink in. I’ve rooted for teams for 33 years and the only time my Seattle boys have won was yesterday. Besides that… I still have about 2 weeks until pitchers and catchers report right?

Go Hawks!

Reverse the Curse

I’m a sports fan. Due to my health, I’ve never been much of an athlete – but ever since I was 14 and the 1995 Mariners pulled me in to a new world, I’ve been a sports fan.

Sometimes, this is awesome. As a teenager, all of a sudden, I had things I could talk about and really enjoy with my three brothers and dad, all of whom love sports.

Sometimes, this is not awesome.  Let me give you a quick summary of all the teams I’ve rooted for over the years:

*Seattle Mariners: In 1995, after beating the Yankees in a 5 game series (after being down 2-0) they couldn’t get past Cleveland. They lost Game 6 of the ALCS. To this day, have gotten to the ALCS one other time, but never made it to the World Series. (Even the year they won 116 games – tying the record for most wins in a season.)

*USA Hockey: In 2002, I was living in Canada for college. The Salt Lake City Olympics featured TWO gold metal hockey games (both Men’s & Women’s) where Canada beat the USA. It was miserable to watch with my Canadian friends.

*Edmonton Eskimos: I was still living in Edmonton Alberta in 2003.  The CFL team went to the Grey Cup. And Lost.

*Edmonton Oilers: 2006 – Since I went to school in Edmonton, I adopted the Oilers as my hockey team. They were the come from behind kids, only to get to the 7th game of the Stanley Cup finals, and lose.

*Seattle Seahawks: Lost the Superbowl in 2006

*Chicago Bears: They did win the Superbowl when I lived in Chicago, but I was only 5 years old and don’t remember the win.  In Grad School, it was 2007 and I lived in Chicago again. The Bears lost the Superbowl.

*Seattle Super Sonics: This one is so bad that the Sonics moved to OKC in 2008 and changed their name. I’ve been rooting against the Thunder ever since. (Maybe the one bright spot? I was forced to root for the Miami Heat to beat the Thunder in the finals. And the Heat won….Lesser of two evils.) I wrote off the NBA for a few years, until I was married to a Spurs fan.

*San Antonio Spurs: My adopted team, thanks to my husband, made it to the finals this year. As is the pattern of my life, they lost in the finals.

So there you go. And I’ll not even attempt to claim all the foibles of the Cubs as mine. They are my second favorite baseball team.  Since I was born in Chicago and have lived there a total of 8 years, the loveable losers have a special place in my heart as well.

All of that being said, I refuse to give up. I WILL cheer for my teams. And one year, one of them will WIN. I’m hoping this is the year. I’m banking on the curse being reversed. I’m ROOTING for the SEAHAWKS.  — And that’s all there is to it.

Wonderful Trip

I haven’t blogged in a while. Partly, because we were out-of-town and I suddenly felt very self-conscious about telling the world our house was unoccupied.

We just got back from a 12 day trip to the Northwest. We had a great time with my parents, brother & sis-in-law, and had the joy of meeting up with several of my friends.

Here are some of the things we did:

*visited Mt. Rainier (69 degrees, sunshine and 20 feet of snow)

*Olympic National Park

*Point Refinance, Chambers Bay

*Seattle (Safeco, M’s game & underground tour)

*Ferry ride into Seattle at night

*played 2 games of Settlers (one game had 6 people, my brother came in last place with 8 points, four of us had 9, and the winner got to 10 first!)

*learned a new game “Dominion” which we really enjoyed and will probably be purchasing

*had a Memorial day BBQ

*Went to the Tacoma Glass Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, and WA State history museum

*ate at the new Ivars in Puyallup

It was a jam-packed trip – but we also had a couple of days to lay low, enjoy the cloudy, drizzly weather and sleep in.

2 months

so… the posts become more spread out. 🙂

Today, on our second month anniversary, I can happily report that thank you notes have all been written. *phew!*

Also, not sure if how much I’ve mentioned this, but at the end of last year, I transitioned to a new position at work. I’m now a Web Developer. It’s been a challenge (and occasionally, easy), but also fun.

This last week I’ve been making huge progress forward in learning and working with PHP. We had a training class (where I got 100% on the worksheet) and a practice project. The practice project is not completely done, but it did give me an opportunity to use “Pennies for Debra” as my ‘client’. (The current count by the way is 9252.)

Other than that, I’m busy looking forward to the Mariner’s baseball season starting. Less than a month until Pitchers and catchers report.

Lastly, no, I haven’t finished War & Peace yet. I did however start reading book 13 in the Wheel of Time series.

OH. one more thing – don’t forget the Shamrock Shake. It’s almost that season again. Please contact McDonalds and help us get the Shake in Texas.

The summer has lost its voice.

http://mynw.com/?nid=577&a=22562

From 1995 on, I was a baseball fan. No. I was a Mariners fan.

My high school summers were spent playing solitare, drinking ice tea, munching on sunflower seeds, all while listening to Dave Niehaus call Mariner games on 710 Kiro.

Radio is how the game should be enjoyed.  For Mariner games, it just won’t be the same.

My Oh My

It Will Fly Away

Get out the rye bread and the mustard, Grandma, it is grand salami time

It just continues.

The end of Summer (hours)

Today was the last day of Summer hours at work. Shucks. Does this mean fall is now here? Is Fall weather coming soon? I hope so!

I’ve been muddeling around with words again. Mostly in my head.  I really need to get them down on paper.

Something I don’t think I’ve mentioned is that I finally started my book.  Well, I actually started it about two years ago… but I didn’t get very far.  I’m not ready to let you know it’s premise yet, other than to say it’s a fictional story set in Seattle.  (No – it’s not about baseball.) 

finally, sticking to the post title theme about summer and parenthesis.  I’m going to go see (500) Days of Summer tonight.

I say Keep Them In Seattle!!!

A great article highlighting the feelings of the people of Seattle. Over 3000 emails poured in within a 24 hour time period. From an unbias (east coast of all things) source, Sonic fans are given a voice. Will anyone listen?

the Article

Bill Simmons writes “This isn’t a case that you can say, “You know, I kind of understand both sides here.” There is only one side. An NBA team is getting hijacked and there’s no way of sugarcoating it, defending it or justifying it. Again, if it happens to the Sonics, it could happen to your team.

That’s why you should care.”

And I agree.

Battle in Seattle

Ok, who remembers WTO and the insanity that ensued? The riot in November of 1999? Remember when the Starbucks was vandalized hardcore? I have a vague recollection of a blown up turtule. And remember the anarchists? Didn’t they come to town just to participate in the choas? And then they took over an abondoned building and refused to leave?

I remember one of my friends was going to head north to check out what was going on. He decided not to because it was very unsafe.

All that to say “Battle in Seattle” (although we may have called it the Battle of Seattle) coming to theaters near you in April. The website says it is a combination of several different perspectives. It was filmed in Seattle and also has some of the real footage. I am not saying go out and see it. I have no idea of actual content. Just thought I would point out that, like some of us thought at the time, it was so over the top and surreal, it felt like the city was living out a movie. Now I guess it did.

For all those who did not believe me

You think it rains the most in Seattle? I have been telling you it doesn’t! Now there is a study to back me up. Check out this story from Yahoo news: Wettest Cities

In summary, Mobile Alabama gets the most rain per year. The southwest beats the Northwest completely and the first Washington city to show up on the list is Olympia at spot 24.