This has been an odd year. There were a lot of great things that happened, but most of the year I spent feeling so, so, sick. It was hard. As an adult we don’t get much of a break when we don’t feel well, in fact, sometimes it felt like no one even believed that I was feeling bad. In October I had to have a colonoscopy as part of trying to figure things out. We didn’t know going in that there was a large tumor in there. Gratefully it was removed, and even more gratefully it was pre-cancer and not cancer. The doctor said we caught it in time. Of course this means some follow ups in the future, but if that’s what it takes to stay cancer free then it’s worth it.

After the tumor was removed things started to improve. I have been feeling so much better. I still have other issues, but it’s so nice to not feel as sick as I was feeling. Even though we did a lot of fun things this year in spite of everything, it wasn’t the same. Anyone with a chronic illness can understand this well, it’s hard to force yourself to do things when you aren’t feeling well… even more so when you have to do it daily. Here are some of the highlights:

• Spending time with our little Yuki. She is such a snuggly little hedgehog. We have cuddle time every night, and she often gets into cute positions.
• SNAP conference. I had a lot of fun this year as I attended only hands on classes. It’s always fun to spend time with other bloggers though, and the parties were fun as usual. The best part was all the delicious Lindt chocolates.
• Salt Lake Comic Con, always fun, especially the cosplays. I really loved this Edward Scissorhands cosplay. It was just so well done, and so creative.
• Cavalia!! Oh, this was a highlight. Thanks to being a blogger, we got the royal treatment and had VIP tickets. This included a dinner before the show, amazing seats, treats in the middle of the show, a special place to hang out (including VIP bathrooms), and best of all, a meet and greet with the horses afterwords.
• Best Friends National Conference. What can be said about this? It’s hard to put into words how I felt attending and learning about all the amazing things Best Friends and others do for homeless pets. Inspiring doesn’t quiet cut it.

I’m looking forward to 2017. I just joined a fun challenge and might start blogging about it now and then on this little blog. It’s called the 365 Miles Challenge. The purpose is to get outside daily and do a mile of walking, hiking, biking, etc. What I like about it most is the focus on doing this OUTSIDE. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of being inside too much. It would be fun to see familiar faces in the group, so please think about joining.

Happy 2017 to everyone! 🙂

I don’t remember when I first saw this little proverb, but it sure has become a good reminder! So often things happen that are completely out of our control, and even though we sometimes feel like it is “our circus”, it’s actually not. This is extra helpful to remember when others try to pull you into their drama.

I created the little graphic above in PicMonkey, so feel free to share it around if this message speaks to you too!