Universal trip

 We just returned from a week at Universal Studios in Orlando. We had previously planned to go last June but had to cancel with the pandemic. It was a very fun week but HOT,HOT, HOT and CROWDED,CROWDED,CROWDED. We stayed at one of the resorts that is on the property, Lowes Royal Pacific. It was a nice hotel but I felt that the Disney property we stayed at was a much better appointed room. The other issue we faced is nightly downpours that weren't just passing. They ruined two out of the four nights we were there. The main reason we stayed on property is to take advantage of the fast passes and to be able to get in early to the parks. We had park to park tickets which is essential if you want to see all of what Universal has to offer. This is especially true if you want to fully immerse yourself in the Harry Potter experience. The Harry Potter world was hands down worth every other inconvenience we experienced.  It is truly magical! 

We all knew it would be hot and crowded and it was! The kids loved all of the rides and had a wonderful time. Our friends who also lived in Portage but have since moved to Naples, FL joined us for a few days which was really fun. We noticed that there didn't seem to be enough staff at the hotel, or the parks. Many staff expressed that because many people are still receiving unemployment benefits they have had issues finding people to hire. After spending almost a year and a half in quarantine it was very overwhelming to be in such crowds. I felt like I needed a week to recover from it. 

We are back in Michigan and we can't believe it's already July. Caroline went to Camp Wakeshma this week. Jeff and Matthew are headed back to Portage to pick her up tomorrow and Matthew will be staying in Portage for the week. I am sure when Caroline finds out she will want to stay as well. Ellie was invited to go to her friend Violet's cottage and is gone through Tuesday. It will just be me and Winston this weekend! Jeff will come back on Sunday and we will have a boring fourth of July! 

Matthew has been very busy with football and he is also playing for the high school hockey team. He hurt his knee while we were gone and he has been trying to rest it so he can get back to training after next week's break. 

Jeff is having his parathyroid out next month at U of M. Due to all of his clotting issues he will have to be inpatient on intravenous anticoagulants before the surgery. We are anxious to find out the date as we will have to figure out where the kids will be. Right now the plan is for Matthew to stay in Oakland Twp as he will have football. Caroline and Ellie will go to Portage to be with Jeff's mom. The surgery itself isn't a huge deal. Jeff's body just likes to make everything more difficult. 😏

Soon enough it will be fall and we are hoping for a normal year with no masks!! We are excited to be able to go to Matthew's football games. Ellie is thrilled to be going to middle school. Caroline is go with the flow with school and doesn't seem to be overly excited to go to high school. Matthew just dreads homework. 😉

 

I saw this on a blog I read regularly and thought it would be neat to answer them to read back on one day!

1. Life in early 2020 was busy with kids activities. Hockey, swimming and school took up much of our time. Jeff was commuting an hour to an hour and half each way to work. 

2. The biggest change was life came to a screeching halt. School stopped, sports stopped, Jeff and I began working from home. Well, one of my jobs briefly went remote. I continued to go in for my palliative care job. 

3. At first it was to cook more and just enjoy the slow down. We ordered Home Chef and stopped eating out completely. We used more of what we had in our pantry. However we certainly indulged in more comfort foods. Hence the quarantine weight we've worked hard to take off! 

4. The biggest change I would say is our kids got some much closer. The girls especially spent nearly all their time together. Some days it felt like an extended break for a holiday. It wasn't bad at all until I went to work and saw the gruesome reality of covid. 

5. I will remember how it impacted my work life most. It has been devastating helping families through covid. The visitor restrictions have been brutal. I will never forget how surreal the hospital felt during April 2020. It felt like you were in a war. I will remember how when I would drive in to the hospital there was literally no one else on the road but me on a Monday morning. I will remember thinking that our kids went weeks without leaving the house. 

6. My biggest challenge was having to support people through a crisis we've never experienced in our lifetime. Although it was a challenge I definitely saw the best in my healthcare coworkers. 

7. A beautiful memory was when a patient died and no family could be there. A group of us stood around their bed and said the "Our father". 

8. I believe that you don't have control over one dang thing in this life so stop sweating the small stuff and live. I can't believe how much my views on animals have changed since we added our precious puppy, Winston to our home last May.

9. I don't think I would do anything differently! I think we all did the best we could. 

10. I will carry forward that I am lucky to have survived the pandemic relatively unscathed. Being so close to those who lost so much I know how blessed I am. I will carry forward how hard the healthcare community worked. I will carry forward that there is more good in people than bad. 

2021 so far...an update.

 Well, well, well here we are in 2021. I think we all were hoping that 2021 wouldn't be a crappy as 2020 was. As far as we're concerned the jury is still out. Jeff had to have three stents placed in his heart in September. He was scheduled to have one of his parathyroid's removed today actually. To clear him for surgery his cardiologist ordered a nuclear stress test. Unfortunately the test showed abnormalities and he had to have another heart cath last week that found that he has a blood clot in his circumflex artery. The cardiologist tried everything possible to clear it and was unsuccessful. Jeff is on two blood thinners. There isn't much more he could do to manage his body's desire to clot his blood. 

It was a very anxiety filled week. It was the last thing we wanted to hear honestly. But then we decided to embrace to positives. The clot is not in one of the two main arteries. As the cardiologist stated, "That would be very bad." Jeff has no symptoms of his heart not functioning well and his cardiologist said it looks great from a function standpoint. We continue to cling to our faith in God to help us not live with the anxiety of "What ifs?" Jeff's parathyroid surgery has been pushed until July. We are still planning on going to Cleveland Clinic to make sure there is nothing else we can do to manage his clotting disorder or his heart. 

The kids are back in school full time. They are enjoying it for the most part. Matthew is playing spring hockey for his high school team. He is also training for football. I don't think he realized that its a full time commitment but it has made him much stronger. We are excited for the Fall season. Ellie continues to swim for Oly. We are trying to convince Caroline to try cross country this fall. She has established a little routine of working out with different YouTube videos weekly. Jeff and I purchased a Peloton in December. It arrived at the end of February and I love it! We've never had workout equipment in our home before. Our home here has a designated workout room in our finished basement so it is perfect. I can't say enough positive things about it. The workouts have helped me physically and mentally. Jeff was also using it until this latest health hiccup, but has full clearance to resume next week! 

We took a trip to Orange Beach, AL for Spring Break. We stayed in a condo that had amazing views of the ocean. We were able to meet up with some friends from Portage too. It was a nice break before returning to such medical drama! We are still planning on taking our trip to Universal Studios in June that we had to reschedule due to covid last year. Caroline is returning to Camp Wakeshma in June as well. 

We continue to slowly make this side of the state home. It continues to be hard.  Many days I still feel like it is a temporary situation. It just doesn't feel like home yet.  Thankfully the kids seem to have all made some really nice friends which always helps my mom heart to know they are settling in. I am thankful for facetime and texting that allows me to have connections to my beloved friends back in Portage. It has been an interesting journey for me as far as friends go over the past year. I had a falling out with some friends about a year ago. Despite trying to my best to own my part in the whole situation many of those friendships have fallen away.  I continue to struggle with that because I have known these girls for years. However, I can't make anyone talk things through, be reasonable or accept my apologies.  I also realize my truth certainly isn't the truth others in this group believe. I have decided to chalk it up to sometimes people are in your life for a long season and those relationships can end too. I definitely felt like I put up with some things just because we had been friends for a long time. The gift of moving away from Portage is I realized that because I knew a lot of people just from living there for thirteen years I wasn't very discerning about friendships. I ignored red flags and my gut far too often. I am realizing that I don't need to be surrounded by a huge group of friends. I need the right friends for me in the stage of life that I am in now. That realization has brought me peace. 

Work continues to be very impacted by Covid. I am weary and long for normalcy. I am tired of patients being sick in the hospital and their family can't visit. I am over all of the quarantines. I feel like I am running out of things to tell my counseling clients who feel despair over the continued restrictions that are in place in our state. 

2021 so far looks much like 2020. I will continue to cling to the goodness of the many blessings we have. God continues to show us mercy and protection. He provides a way even in our most anxious hours. That will be true no matter what health crisis, pandemic of lost friendships come our way! 

We hope you're hanging in there and well!