What a pain...

So, after that really great weekend we had it ended in a not so fun way. After our bike ride on Sunday we decided to pick up lunch from Jimmy John's and the second I finished eating I felt sick. It could have been a culmination of things including but not limited to; over exercising, eating the wrong foods, dehydration, etc. But all I can tell you is I have never experienced those kind of pains in my stomach before. I could barely move, and spent the rest of the evening on and off heating my stomach because that was the only thing that gave me temporary relief. I even called in sick on Monday to my new job, it was that bad! Matt had a somewhat surprise procedure Monday morning on his tooth that made half of his face completely numb so he decided to take his lunch hour at home (to check on me, also to wait till the drooling subsided before going back to work :) We were quite the pair, but thankfully he felt better quickly and finished out the work day. I decided that if the pains were the same in the morning I would go to the doctor because it even hurt to roll from one side to the other. I went in to work this morning, even made it through a new family meeting and had an afternoon appointment with the doctor.

I met with a doctor I have never seen before. It turns out she was a younger woman and a breath of fresh air in the amount of time she spent actually listening to me and trying to figure out what was wrong, what we could do next, etc. (Rather than a doctor I have had before who doesn't listen, talks too fast, and he writes prescriptions so fast your head will spin). I had some blood drawn and I know it will all be just fine and I would much rather they say "you obviously can't handle pain well, go home ya baby" then to have anything be wrong. So it will all be just fine. It was kind of funny though when the nurse was drawing blood.. it usually never bothers me and when she pulled the needle out I actually said "ow!"

So I leave the doctor's office a bit more in pain then what I started with. But to add some flavor to this already long day of mine, I get no more than 50 yards out of the parking lot and as I am on the phone with Matt I said "I have to go, my car is making a weird noise". He said "what kind of weird noise?", and I said "well, it sounds like it did when my lug nuts fell off... I bet I have a flat tire... oh jeez, I'm gonna have to call you back". I pull over, put my hazards on, go to the suspected tire and sure enough I have a flat tire!

I call Matt back and by this time my energy is pretty well spent. I had a quick vision of me having to change my very first tire by myself, in my work clothes, without the proper tools. And instead of breaking a window, I start to cry. Not a real full on cry, but a I am so frustrated I just want to be home and I kind of want to hit something kind of cry. Sometimes in moments like these guys hit things, and sometimes women cry. Matt is somewhat familiar with this behavior and he is ready to leave work to help me, but I figured I call my Dad because he might be on a break from work but he doesn't answer, then I think to call my brother because I was somewhat in his neighborhood.. much more so then I would have been near Matt's work. But my brother was still at work even further from where I was. So after calling the men in my life (my sister is busy with her son, and my mom just had foot surgery)...

Finally I realize the best and easiest solution is to call Triple A for the second time in about 4 months (Thanks Dad for my membership!) and within thirty minutes these two nice young guys come to my rescue. The one guy gets out and sees that I have a band aid where they drew blood, and he says "ahhh, first that now this?" It made me smile and reminded me that it was just a stupid flat tire and there are much worse things. I immediately felt grateful and drove away completely fine. Bonus- five cars pulled over to ask if I needed help in that short time I was sitting there, so that was refreshing.

Surprisingly my stomach feels a little better, I had some more watermelon and I am going to eat a delicious dinner and get some good sleep tonight. It's funny how sometimes these things, these life annoyances come all on the same week, or even the same day. And you just gotta roll with it, and that guy whipping his arms about like a mad man in road rage on my way home made me smile and throw him the peace sign (which probably made him more upset) but perspective is what it's all about. And my perspective tonight and hopefully most nights is gratitude and being present.

4th of July!

To keep with our tradition that we started three years ago, we spent the holiday at my sister's house and the minute it got dark we began to play with sparklers, a flashlight, and a long exposure. Matt was the master mind behind the photography, and woah, he is talented.
We started the night with delicious appetizers, then cooked out on the grill and spent the entire evening on their back porch. Kestan was busy running all over the back yard, taking rocks and putting them near the dogs, trying to dig holes with Uncle Matt and overall just being a cute, really really cute, sweaty little boy.
Kestan also fell from the sky.
Me and my sparkler friend.
Of course a classic Star Wars recreation by me and Matthew. It was a really great weekend. Both Matt and I had Friday off, by the way I am in love with three day weekends. I cooked a delicious tomato basil quiche. We went on a bike ride to my dad's house on Saturday and then Sunday we met two women I work with and their husbands for a lovely bike ride. The weather was gorgeous and we all had a great time. Hope you enjoyed your fourth as well!