We've MOVED!

Just a super fast update to let everyone know that the move is now behind us. We love our cozy cottage! Email me at claudia@claudiasfamily.com and I'll send you an update. There are many very glamorous things you can help with....you know how glamorous moving is! *wink*

Hope to hear from you soon. Our Internet is up and running so I should be able to respond to your emails fairly quickly (within a day or two, when I take breaks from the other 90 million things moving-in entails).

Love, Claudia

Update

Lots happening:

• We've got a contract on a house and if all goes well, we're moving a week from YESTERDAY.....
• We're frantically packing
• Christopher is sick so "frantically packing" means about one box every four hours in between whining, meds and hugs
• I'm trying to pace myself, but I laugh as I write those words
• I'm excited about the prospect of a home I can decorate how I want and that will be a reflection of "me" and my family
• The house we are moving to has a hot tub, and we just stocked up on Coors Light, so if you're interested in partaking in either, there's just ONE catch...you gotta help us with some "stuff"! :)
• Please pray for someone to rent our current house and move in (i.e. start paying rent) IMMEDIATELY when we move out... long story, but we will likely have to pay all of August rent PLUS pay for the new place (ouch)
• Call, write, email, IM, stop by..... I MISS MY BUDDIES!

Love, Claudia

WOO HOO!

Once again I am jotting this entry down in between other things I have to do! Lots of news:

• Had a WONDERFUL visit with my Mother and Sister...they are safely back in California and I miss them already!



• Catherine and Phillip were both here this weekend....it was AWESOME!



• We have put earnest money down on a house in Muncie! It is a single-story, cottage-style, 3 BR, 2 BA and I am SOO excited (there is a picture on my website "announcements" page)



• I got my power wheelchair Saturday: Permobil c500 Corpus. We have a couple of details to "tweak" and I'm set....now I just need a wheelchair van so I can go out in it! :)



• A friend and fellow PALS (person with ALS) has invited (and is paying for!) me to join he and his wife on an 8 day cruise in August and I'M GOING! :) Catherine will go with me as my travel companion and we'll have some much-needed mother/daughter time! :)

Life is good. Love, Claudia

Happenings

Lots of stuff to report:

1. I'm exhausted
2. My mother and sister are here from California for a visit (my sister is here for a conference and it is her first visit EVER to Indiana)
3. I'm exhausted
4. We've found a house to buy on contract with my life insurance proceeds for the payoff...it is in Muncie MUCH nearer to Sharyll. We will be moving in the next 30-60 days
5. I'm exhausted
6. My Permobil c500 Corpus power wheelchair will be delivered tomorrow at 8AM
7. I'm exhausted
8. Catherine and Phillip are here for the weekend
9. I'm exhausted
10. My sister will have several hours to visit with us again on Sunday before they leave Sunday evening (we had a few hours yesterday, too)
11. I'm exhausted
12. I'm not going to get to go to my best bud, Kent's, birthday party tomorrow due to the delivery of my powerchair and my mother's visit :((
13. I'm exhausted
14. Goodnight.

Love, Claudia

Never Confuse Your Career with Your Life

"Never confuse your career with your life"..... those are 7 big words.

I did. And now I'm paying the price. I genuinely thought that the people I worked with were my friends. Several have kept in touch and a few have gone waaay above and beyond to help me and still "be there" for me... but I'm amazed at the deafening silence from the vast majority of the people I worked with...most especially, the people I flew with. I guess we were all too busy trying to stay on top of our game to be human....I confess that I was. I guess it sucked then, but I was too busy and too wrapped up in my "career" to notice. Well, it REALLY sucks now. It makes me sad. Sad for me. Sad for them. We are all less human because we are constantly bombarded by such high expectations and demands.

In the next few months (maybe weeks if we find the right house) I plan to move. I honestly wonder if I'll ever hear from any but that select handful of people (you know who you are) who have kept close.... for the rest I might as well have fallen off the planet. Wow...all that for a flight helmet, huh? I hope I am wrong. I miss my friends and the time we were together working. I miss my "career" but I am glad that I am more human now.

I actually went and sat on a bench at Morse Reservoir yesterday and just sat....felt the breeze on my skin... listened to the leaves rustling on the tree above my head and the gentle waves breaking on the rocks... felt the sun filtering through the leaves... smelled the lake water, the grass, the fresh air. WOW. IT was awesome. I AM human. I was there with my friend Kent and we just sat in silence for a short time and just "lived".

I hope my friends have time to live too.... Love, Claudia