My Lobsters

I promise I'll get back to the travel stuff. Maybe I will this weekend when my plan is to play a round of golf, do my normal church thing, and spend as much as possible of the rest of the weekend on my bottom on my couch. I am beyond excited about the three day weekend in my future. For now though, I want to talk about lobsters. Specifically two of them, that I claim possessively as mine.

You've seen the episode of Friends when Phoebe talks about lobsters choosing a mate, locking claws, and then never letting go, right? It's a pretty memorable monologue for her from the show. It's also an idea that Glennon over at Momastery uses. She uses it to describe her sister. When I met her at a book signing, I was with one of my lobsters and since we're both on budgets, we have joint custody of the book so Glennon made out the inscription to us and then just wrote the word, "lobsters."

I'm blessed to have two lobsters who are better known as my best friends. A guy I dated pointed out that I can't have two best friends because it negates the superlative and while I agree, I told him he was a boy and didn't understand. My best friends are Amy and Sabrina.

I have theoretically known Amy since the second I was born. She is 5.5 months older than me. Our moms met in 7th grade and became best friends. They then happened to have little girls within 6 months of each other. I think God had a plan for that. Amy and I grew up 30 minutes from each other so it was a big deal to get together. We'd pass the time between play dates by corresponding through letters. They usually contained "homework" for each of us to do since we both wanted to become teachers. Amy fulfilled that goal. I did not. Every time we talk about work I am again reassured of my decision. She, however, loves it.

Amy and I are alike in many ways. We both tend to follow the rules. We both have brown hair and blue eyes, though hers are both lighter shades than mine. We have freckles. We each have two brothers. We like and are good at working with children. We both have serious medical conditions. Amy has a peanut allergy. It's a bummer. Some of our play dates growing up included me going with her to get allergy shots and watching her do her inhaler treatments. I still remember her light blue inhaler spacer. I thought it was pretty cool. It did not phase or alarm me one bit that I never ate peanuts around Amy. It didn't really cross my conscious realm - it was just a part of life.

Due to her own chronic medical fun, Amy doesn't shy away from mine. She can empathize. She can relate to missing out on really random things (Reese's peanut butter cups for her) because of something outside of her control. It makes our health conversations super detailed which probably freaks out those around us, but it also makes them so incredibly normal. She doesn't have any sort of surprised or worried reaction when I tell her things. She asks follow up questions as if she was asking me more details on why my day is going well. I have taken for granted how much of a blessing that has been in my life.

My second lobster is Sabrina. I'm sure we met sometime in 6th grade since we went to middle school together, but our lives didn't really cross until 8th grade when we both dated the same boy. I started dating him shortly after they broke up so of course I was the enemy. We didn't become friends until she invited me to go to the high school service at the church we both attended. We had a class together our freshman year of high school and the rest is history.

Sabrina and I talk so much it's freaky. We also can have entire conversations in just sounds. We speak our own language and we drive her husband insane with it. We also send such a ridiculous amount of texts to each other that trying to find something we talked about through text yesterday is pointless. She's my accountability for exercising and eating well. She's also my motivation to keep moving. The girl is racking up half-marathon medals like it's her job. Sabrina is also a worrier, which I tend to think for the most part, I'm not.

When it comes to my health, she is my balancer of emotions. She has on more than occasion expressed her interest in coming to my doctor's appointments so that she can learn and hear first hand. I guess I don't do a good enough job on my reports. She asks follow up questions because she is preparing herself for the worst case scenario. This has been one of the biggest contributors to me finally getting a handle on the seriousness of my condition. It's one of the reasons why I finally wrote down my health information and always make sure I have it with me. She is the one to whom I take my fears. She lets me feel them and feels them with me and then when I think I'm going to go over the cliff of the enormity of what's going on, she reels me back to safety.

My lobsters are my life line. They didn't meet until we were all in college so while we are not the three best friends that anyone can have (I can't believe a 3rd movie was made...), they are friends through the common bond of me. I am beyond blessed that God has put them in my life to walk through it with me. They both have paved the way for me in marriage and Amy in buying a house. They both are outgoing which brings me out of my shell. My life would have a void if they weren't in it. I would say the cliche that you should get to know them, but I'll pass. I don't share well.

Life Changing

The events that transpired last week involving Boston hurt my heart.

One of the victims who was seriously injured and needed a partial leg amputation is a woman named Erika. She and I went to the same youth group in high school and I looked up to her as one of the cool upperclassmen. She is a genuinely beautiful person both inside and out. What was her first concern after coming out of sedation? The students she teaches.

The second thing that got me was that Boston was my first trip after I decided to conquer all 50 states. I didn't decide to blog until after my second trip which is why I haven't written about it. That city captured my heart though and if its winters weren't so cold, I would move there without hesitation. "Boston Strong" isn't just a cute slogan to unite people after the tragedy, it is a truth that I experienced during my 12 hours there. That city is magical in the best way possible. It's rich in United States history, has breathtaking buildings, and the locals I enjoyed at the sports bar were friendly and proud and a lot of fun to be around. They even welcomed a rival Orioles fan while the O's were taking on the Red Sox at Fenway.

While Erika and I were never close friends, I've thought a lot this week on how I would react if one of my close friends was ever in a situation like hers. Her life forever changed in an instant. She will have to relearn how to walk and do many different things. Her "typical" life is no more. I can't relate to life changing so quickly.

My typical life has never been typical. I'm not a CHD patient who was diagnosed as an adult. My life stopped being typical the moment I was born. I never fully participated in PE classes in school. I've never played on a sports team. I can only ride one roller coaster at amusement parks. I only lived a few hours without scars all over my body. I see a cardiologist on a regular basis. I never leave home without my health passport that includes my doctor's phone number and my health information. I don't consume caffeine (not including decaf coffee and chocolate). I can't take medicines with decongestants in them. I have an advanced directive. I challenge you to name another 25 year old in your life that lives like I do.

I don't point these things out for pity. I am fiercely in love with my life. My CHD has shaped the person that I am today. It continually challenges me and teaches me. It opened up my world to wonderful people I would have never met if my life was typical. While I don't have experience living like a normal person, I'm grateful that I don't know differently. I don't understand what I'm missing out on besides caffeine and let me tell you, some days I'm willing to risk the side effects just for the jolt of energy. I'm thankful that my life is the way that it is. I wouldn't trade it for a normal life. I don't live my days longing for the "better" times. I still live in my better times. They just look different than yours.

From what I know about Erika, she will soldier through adapting to her new life and she'll do it with a smile. If you would like to financially help her create her new typical, please visit www.thebrannockfund.com.

#1a - Washington, DC - Part 1

My birthday.

No, that isn't a typo. My first visit outside of Maryland came just a few hours after I was born. That's what happens when your parents are told throughout the entire pregnancy that their baby is healthy and has a strong heart beat and when she's born, she's blue. I try not to think about what it must have been like for my parents during that time. My mom was obviously stuck at the hospital where I was born and my dad was caught between his wife and his new baby girl that had a complex heart defect and was being transported by ambulance to a different hospital.

Obviously everything turned out fine since I'm here today writing this blog. I spent the next month living in DC at Children's National Medical Center and then had to go back for appointments every few months after that until I was four or five. I thought the hospital was the only thing DC had to offer. I had no grasp on everything it had and still has to offer me.

I'm grateful that this post is happening at this time. It gives me an opportunity to bring together two very important parts of my life and allows me to open the door to write about things besides my travels. While I realize that I set this up to be a travel blog, there won't always be a post for me to write about my travels and writing about my life with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) will fill those empty travel times. As I reflect on the name of my blog, 50some, it rings true with my CHD as well. The cardiologists predicted when I was a baby that I would live well into my fifties without needing any sort of additional medical intervention. I'm at a crossroads right now that is almost certainly going to end in a change of direction and a need for intervention.

Since this summer I've been making pretty frequent trips to the beautiful district. It moves me every single time I drive down there as I take Capitol Street and get to see the Capitol Building for a few brief moments. While driving into DC isn't my favorite thing to do, it's a necessity these days.

I don't want to overload the health information as it's a lot of medical terms and each new test my cardiologist has me do is revealing a new problem with my heart. The basics are that I was born with Transposition of the Great Arteries and had an arterial switch done at one week old. Up until this summer I was seeing a pediatric cardiologist and a scare with heart palpitations ushered in my transition to the Adult Congenital Heart Clinic at Children's National Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center. I now see a cardiologist who specializes in adults with CHD and he's been finding some not so up to snuff things going on with my heart. It isn't working like it should and right now he's trying to find out everything that isn't working correctly so that he can design a plan to make things work better than they are now. I will be having a procedure done sometime in the coming month that will gather some more information and possibly correct one of the issues that's been found.

So there's the story of my first visit to DC and a lot more about why I now go to DC on a fairly regular basis. I'm going to do another post about my first tourist visit. That was a lot more fun and not nearly as intense as my first visit.

100 Things I'm Thankful For

In light of some recent medical stuff going on for me, I'm very thankful that tomorrow is a day dedicated to being thankful. I'm being proactive this time around and not letting myself go through the roller coaster of emotions I've been on lately so that means creating a nice long list of just a fraction of the things for which I am grateful.

You may have noticed that I changed my biography for this blog as I'll be expanding it to include my health stuff since day by day that's becoming more an active part of my daily life. I'll still be including my travels. My next post will actually combine both as I talk about my first visit to this great nation's capital city. For now though, here's a list, in no particular order, of what I am grateful for this Thanksgiving.

1. My faith in a God that I believe is all powerful, all knowing, and ever present
2. My mom, my dad, and my dad's wife
3. My brothers, sister-in-law, and almost sister-in-law
4. My two best friends and their husbands
5. Ice cream
6. My job and coworkers
7. My nephew (he's the cutest almost 10 month old on the planet)
8. My mom's dogs
9. My iPhone
10. My college diploma
11. My friends from college
12. The young adult small group at my church
13. My Sunday school kids
14. The color pink
15. Popcorn
16. Netflix
17. Pandora radio
18. Humidifiers
19. Cassie the Corolla
20. Rewards points on credit cards
21. Cream of wheat not tasting like oatmeal
22. Reese's peanut butter cups in any size or shape
23. Decaf coffee
24. The Wizard of Oz
25. On Demand on cable
26. All things pumpkin flavored
27. USA Today's daily crossword puzzle
28. My one boss' black lab that comes to work with him on a pretty regular basis
29. Facebook
30. Writing this blog
31. Reading Rants from Mommyland, The Bloggess, and Momastery
32. Emery boards
33. Chapstick
34. Tervis tumblers
35. Drinking straws
36. Old coworkers that turned into friends
37. The ability to walk/jog 3.2 miles on a consistent basis
38. Flannel sheets
39. Books, books, and more books
40. The used book store near me
41. My church
42. Short work weeks
43. My cardiologist and the ACHD clinic at Children's
44. Belts
45. American Eagle jeans
46. Sperry Top-siders
47. Google
48. My watch
49. Sunday afternoon naps
50. Washington Redskins, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Capitals, the US Men's National Soccer Team
51. The Flow game on my phone
52. My Disney pillow I've had since I was a baby
53. Envelope moistener with adhesive
54. The ability to hit golf balls at a driving range
55. Twitter
56. Paychecks
57. Letter openers
58. Sweat pants
59. My aunts, uncles, and cousins
60. TV shows on DVD
61. YouTube
62. Hoodies
63. Laughing
64. Living within walking distance of my dad's house
65. The Bible
66. Jillian Michaels' workouts
67. The time I had with my grandparents
68. The advances in medicine in my lifetime
69. The beach
70. Southwest airlines
71. Spontaneous dance parties
72. Breakfast sandwiches with hot sauce
73. Dunkin Donuts
74. Live music
75. Live theater
76. Musicals
77. My college experience
78. Waking up this morning
79. A roof over my head each night
80. Living in Maryland
81. Phones breaking within the warranty period
82. Health insurance
83. Family get togethers
84. Coupons
85. My allergies not attacking me this fall
86. Text messaging
87. EZ Pass
88. Having braces straighten out my teeth
89. Car insurance
90. Pictures
91. Christmas music and movies after Thanksgiving
92. Tissues
93. Purpose face moisturizer
94. Other people who are knowledgeable in things which I am not
95. Amazon wish lists
96. GPS
97. Caffeine free soda
98. Friendly and helpful customer service people
99. Board games
100. You for reading this blog :)

So there's my list. There's plenty that I left off of it. Actually there's probably more that I left off of it than actually wrote. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

#16 - Rhode Island

November 3, 2012

This trip had an early and unusual start. I knew my flights were going to be funny when I got the 'A' group for both of them. Shout out to Southwest for always creating an enjoyable flight. Anyways, there were only seven people who purchased tickets for my flight to Providence and only four of us showed up. It was the first and probably only time I'll be the first passenger to board the plane. After a delay due to some software glitches, we were off and I was sound asleep like a baby. We landed a little late, but that was fine with me.

The airport in Providence is the largest in which I've ever been. I walked the long walk over to get my rental. Enterprise hooked me up with a new (~2,000 miles) Chevy Sonic. Besides a few weird things like having trouble with my blind spots, it was a sweet ride. It was also dark gray. My rental in Connecticut was dark gray. I own a dark gray car. Coincidence much? I headed off to get breakfast and then went to the Roger Williams Zoo.

How cute is he? She? This was in the Australasian house. I saw some animals at the zoo that I had never seen before and some old favorites of mine. The zoo also was hosting a jack-o-lantern type exhibit and they had a bunch of pumpkins all over and even some hanging in the trees. I actually spent a good bit of time at the zoo because there were so many animals to see. As I was heading through one of the last groups of animals, a bird pooped on my backpack strap. Lucky me. The zoo also had two bald eagles. They were rescued and are unable to fly well so they don't have any sort of netting over them. I only got a picture of one of them as the second one seemed to be laying down. I've been telling myself that it was just sleeping. After the zoo, I headed back into the downtown area to park at the mall and walk around before a special event at Macy's in the largest mall I've ever been, Providence Place.

Oh hey, Clinton Kelly! He was there for his Makeover America tour. I watched him critique a few women then the fashion show started and I left to walk around more. I then came back just as he was walking out to do his book signing. He's really tall and very funny. His quote of the day was definitely, "The higher the boobs, the closer to God." Ladies, go get your professional bra fitting if you haven't in the past year. I saw some beautiful buildings while I was walking around and a random group of what I assume to be military reenactors marching down the street. Providence has a weird clash of the artsy students of Rhode Island School of Design and the ivy league students of Brown. It was very apparent in the city that both schools consider Providence their home. It also is a modernized city that still has historical routes. I loved seeing the different eras come together in the city.

Providence was a great way to end my little tour of parts of the northeast. I currently don't have any plans to travel to new states so I need to get back to the drawing board and figure out where to go next. I've had a few friends express interest in coming with me on trips so hopefully some of those can work out. In the meantime, I'll continue retracting my steps through the states I've visited. Don't forget to check out all of my pictures from this trip via the link on the sidebar.

Planning for Providence

It looks like as long as my local airport gets its act together that I'll be heading to Providence. Sandy didn't do much damage in the city of Providence for which I'm grateful. Part of me didn't want to do this trip this week, but now that I've started making my schedule for the day, it's shaping up to look like a fun day reminiscent of Boston. Tonight as I planned, I learned the two cities are apparently only an hour apart.

I don't know yet what order I'll be visiting these places and I'm not sure I'll make it to all of them due to monetary restrictions on my part, but here's the list of where I'm looking to go:

-Museum of Art at Rhode Island School of Design
-Roger Williams Park Zoo
-Rhode Island State House (just a quick stop for pictures since it will be closed)
-Providence Athenaeum
-Benefit Street
-Macy's (Clinton Kelly will be there doing his makeover tour)

I'll have about eight hours in the city which is a good time frame since there's so much I want to do. I'd love to find a history museum to learn more about the state. I'm enjoying seeing the state houses of where I'm going and I know that I won't always be traveling to the city where they are so I think I'll be making sure I visit the state houses as often as it's feasible.

After trying to decipher the schedules for the trains, planes, helicopters, taxis, and whatever else you can think of, I'm leaning towards getting a rental again. It will depend on traveling within the city once I look at a map of Providence and a phone call to a taxi company up there that works with the airport.

It can get tedious planning these trips, but it makes it totally worth it when I get to see some really cool stuff and get some awesome pictures. Many thanks to the city of Providence for having a website listing all of the fun stuff to do and see in the city.

#1 - Maryland

My birthday.

I'm totally not putting that out here for total strangers to see, but let's just say it was in 1987. Maryland is the wonderful place that I was lucky to be born in, grow up in, go to college in, and currently live in. It has some drawbacks to it, but overall I can't imagine spending my life anywhere else. There's mountains in the west, the ocean in the east, and cities, suburbs, and farms in between. We theoretically get all four seasons although most years the seasons are out of order and/or at least one is abbreviated. You can drive from where I live in MD all the way down to the end of Florida on Route 95 and not pay one toll. Unfortunately, to even go through the city of Baltimore which is just north of me, you have to pay a toll and many thereafter to head north. Thank goodness for the invention of the EZPass.

Maryland is right next to the beautiful Washington, DC. There are so many things to do there, but more on that later when I talk about my first visit to it.

I am beyond blessed to live in this area. It's one of the most prosperous in the nation and while that can prove quite entertaining and frustrating, it has also allowed me to have many opportunities that I would have never had if I grew up somewhere else. I will go ahead and say that we are some of the worst drivers. I'm sorry if I've offended my fellow Marylanders, but seriously? We slam on the brakes in the pouring down rain, we basically come to a stop just to look at an accident scene, we fly up the right lane next to a merge just because the lane was open, and signals are optional. I will say though that most of us can properly use a traffic circle.

In keeping with the topic of ridiculous things we like to do in our state, I have to talk about when the cold weather hits here. This is especially relevant because of the crazy storm that they're predicting might take place this weekend into next week. The weathermen are usually incredibly wrong with their predictions of how much or lack there of snow we're going to get which has caused this paranoia in all of us. If we're told there's a 0.00000001% chance that ONE flake of snow is going to fall from the sky, we flock to the nearest place that sells food and stock up as if we have to feed the entire state for a year off of only the supplies in our house. There have only been a few horrendous snow storms that I can remember and even then, we only needed supplies for a few days before we were able to make it to the grocery store.

I'm sorry I don't really have any pictures for this visit, but my whole life involves this state so in reality that would be a lot of pictures to look through. It will take a lot for me to move from this area. I love visiting other places in this great nation, but Maryland will forever and always be my home. It's where my heart will always be and I wouldn't have it any other way.