Life has been flying along so far this year and it seems like a good point to put together an update.

First, my dad. In my post Fortitude on an Empty Stomach, I wrote about how my dad was hit by a car on May 1st, while bike riding with my mother and he ended up with a fractured femur. It was really scary there, but he was released from the hospital 5 days after the accident to home rather than to a rehab facility with a walker.  It took time–and there was a lot of pain and discomfort–but as of last week, he was able to get up the stairs to the second floor and he is now only using a cane to get around. Yes!!!!

Second, this year’s A to Z April Writing Challenge which I kicked off with Spring Cleaning My Way From A to Z on March 31st. The Challenge was officially for the month of April, but I quickly found that finishing 52 posts between both of my blogs, here at Searching for EMWA and over at A Home for the Family Tree, was possibly a little over-zealous and ambitious. The whole point of my entering the challenge, however, was to re-boot my writing, not to stick to the rules of this cool writing challenge, and so I decided to allow myself to extend my ‘spring cleaning’ and ‘clearing off the cobwebs’ into May. I completed 11 posts in April and another 7 in May at Searching for EMWA, while at A Home for the Family Tree, I completed 12 posts in April, but only 5 in May. 35 in all–basically two-thirds of the way. So far. Since I’ve actually mocked up most of the remaining 17 posts, I’ve decided to give it a go and try to complete all 52 posts. Considering how slowly the weather has been warming up this year in the Midwest, lengthening out a spring cleaning writing activity actually feels like I’m listening to nature and paying attention to my world by adapting my expectations in a positive manner.

Third, my Hypothyroidism caused by Hashimoto’s Disease which I was diagnosed with in October and wrote about pretty extensively in February with the post You Are Feeling Very Sleepy…  Slowly, but surely, I have started to have more days with energy than days with fatigue. I’ve been grabbing short naps a little more regularly which helps take the edge off and I’m being a little more patient with my expectations. My doctor and I don’t quite have the medicine at the right levels, but it is getting closer to the right mix. It’s a process, but it’s coming along.

Fourth, it’s all about the drinkin’. In E is for Equivalency, I wrote about how I finally found a correlation related to alcohol consumption that stopped me in my tracks and forced me to do some serious re-evaluation of my drinking habits:

The effect of drinking one bottle of wine on the average body per week is equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes per week. 

Facing the fact that alcohol is a carcinogen–like cigarettes and toxic waste–couldn’t be avoided any longer. For truly occasional drinkers, this isn’t a big deal. However, I have been drinking enough in the past decade, where I had to face the fact that I might have a problem. And so, for the past 2 months, I haven’t had a drink. Not a one. Wow. It’s been hard–which adds to the realization that I have been drinking too much. I miss drinking wine when I’m cooking dinner. I miss drinking sangria or margaritas as the weather is warming up and we’ve been able to eat outside a couple of times. I miss being able to take the edge off of the challenges I have been facing with the known yummy effects of red wine. But I’ve also been busy living life as fully as possible, so I’ve been making the adjustments and staying committed to this change.

Fifth, we are more than a month in to my fifth summer/outdoor season rowing with Recovery on Water!!! The weather has been challenging and we have been having lots of rain which has caused lots of flooding; however, there have been plenty of practices so far where we are out on the Chicago River and the Sunday morning or week night session has been pure magic.