Jacky at the Whitehouse/Massage stories

1. This is my cousin Jacky, who I've blogged about before. She's a Senior Intelligence Officer working in Washington D.C. and she posted these pictures recently on her Facebook page when she and her peers got to go the White house a week or so ago.



2. Yes, this is Barney Bush, who Jacky says is the only Bush she would greet kindly. I'm sure Barney could tell she was a dog owner Mommy. She never said but I figured if Barney is there President Bush or the First lady must have been also. I want that picture though. I'll ping her on that one.



3. Jacky and her peers in front of the Oval office. Can you imagine getting to stand there? I told her I would love to volunteer to be her personal assistant next time she needs to visit the White house. Wouldn't that be cool?

4. Massage stories- Sometimes things happen in my profession that are either very funny or I just have to tell you about. And I know there is a lot of you out there who will read this and wonder, "Does she tell stories about me to others?" If I have, I NEVER use names so no one would know. Anyway here's the first one-

So there is a girl who comes into the spa once a month and gets a massage. She takes medication for schizophrenia and when I first massaged her I was warned that she says and does things during her massage that you normally wouldn't experience with others. One of the things she does is when she's lying on her stomach her arms are out front of her and she constantly rubs her hands as if she's putting lotion on. She also has a breathing pattern that you could mistaken for sobbing at times, yet when I've asked her is she's ok she snaps out of it and answers, "yes." Once she turns over, instead of keeping her eyes closed, she stares at you. She'll also talk to herself after I've turned her over and you'd think you were looking at someone who was in the middle of a disturbing dream and her mouth moves like she's talking to someone very troubled. So all of this kind of freaks most of the therapists out and we take turns working on her because it's just to disburbing sometimes. So that is the background of this client. So a week ago, my therapist friend, Michelle was working on her in the room next to me. Often we can hear things even through the walls but I was aware that Michelle had already left the room. So, just another piece of information- sometimes the door locks leaving the client to either knock so we can hear they're stuck or they call our front desk from their cell phones.
So back to Michelle's client- I can hear her struggling with opening the door. Pulling and pulling and I thought, she is going to really FREAK if she can't get out. So there are very few things that make me excuse myself from a massage with a client but I thought I had better go next door and try to help her out so she didn't have this nervous breakdown. And just as I get there, she finally got the door opened and her face was all red and her blonde hair was really tousled. So anyway, she got out just in time but we were very nervous what her reaction would have been had she not gotten the door open.

5. There are some health situations that a therapist must know about since some diagnoses do NOT advise any massage therapy while they are being cared for. So my client was a 70 year old woman who was a return client. If someone is a new client they have them fill out a health questionaire form so the therapist can determind if they are in good enough health for massage. But this woman had already been there. So we have a quick conversation about what areas she needs massage and I leave the room for her to dress down and get on the table. So when I come back in, she has this bandage kind of thing wrapped around her breast area all around her back. And I said, have you hurt yourself or what's going on? She then volunteered that she had a biopsy done earlier in the week. So I pressed further. "So what is your diagnosis because I need to know." She says, "I have Breast CANCER."

Now, friends/family you are NEVER supposed to get massage when you have cancer unless you have a written note from your doctor saying that you can. So I then asked, "Do you have your doctor's permission to be getting a massage?" And she tells me that she didn't even think about that. So I explain the situation and tell her that we really shouldn't be doing a massage but she chooses to proceed anyway and so I told her that we would NOT be doing anything deep but rather just a relaxing kind of massage. So basically I just rubbed her down lightly with lotion. So never get massage if you have cancer, k.

Happy New Year

So many people I've talked to lately are looking forward to the new year (including me - 2008 has been one of the most difficult years) with such excitement and merriment, but it dawned on me this afternoon; that the new year itself will not be anything special. As we enter into another year; things will be the same; people will continue upon their ways and courses. Companies will continue to use and abuse their employees; we will all get up; go to work; come home and start over again the next day. Citizens of the world will continue to war with each other; trying to gain control and dominion over the other and another year will come and go. Sounds depressing, huh?

But, what if... what if we all wake up on January 1, 2009 and say I want to be happier, more peaceful and more loving to my fellow kind (and animals)? What if we all get up that morning and put a little more effort into being kinder to each other; being a little more patient in the traffic on our way to work; slow down and allow someone who just realized their exit is coming up and allow them to merge in at the last minute? What if we take a few minutes to acknowledge those younger than us trying to make their way in the world and we offer them the advise and wisdom that only comes from experiences; experiences of seeing our world in economic strife; leaders making bad decisions; our elderly parents trying to figure out what went wrong with their savings; etc.? What if we all stopped and just showed one act of kindness to someone? I read on a friends blog recently that she was rushing around a few days before Christmas and stopped at a Taco Time to buy a bean burrito and when she went to pay; the clerk told her that the car in front of her had already paid for her burrito. I can assure you; this friend most likely needs no one to pay for her bean burrito; but what a kind act? That might have been the last few dollars that person had before heading home with their Christmas treasures, but it brought joy to my heart to know that there are kind people in our world who are trying their best to be kind; loving; peaceful folks. Pay it forward, that's what I take from this. Let's all pay it forward.

S and I have been talking recently about new years resolutions and being better people; not only to ourselves and each other; to our family, friends and strangers. We have talked about how blessed we are, the joy and love we feel for each other, our families and our friends and those who we come in contact with us on a daily basis. We've talked about our experiences, both good and bad. We've talked about what we have learned and how we need to approach the new year more holistically and with more openness and farsightedness. If we want our home; and the world to be a better place; then we need to be better individuals - better partners - better friends - better family members and better citizens. We need to love more and hate less. We need to be more tolerant - more patient - more willing to give of our abundance; our time; and make our small corner of the world a better place.

I've seen someone who has been there for me, who has given time, patience, love, forgiveness and understanding and all they wanted in return was for me to be a better person. What if... we all took a few minutes to think about who has been there for us in our lives? Who has forgiven us when we have made minor/major mistakes? Who has asked nothing more from us than to be the best that we be - and then give something back to those who need it most?

If we are going to have a better world; one filled with peace; joy; happiness;... then we need to do our part. It could be big, it could be small. But every little or big thing we do that helps another is one step forward into a better world for those who come after us. Give when you can... take time when you can... stop and help when you can... Those who can; do... those who cannot; need a little help.

Don't wait for a calender to tell you that it's time to change> Take every moment of everyday to think beyond yourselves and ask "what can I do"? It may be small, but to the person who bought my friend a bean burrito at Taco Time; I say; no small thing goes unnoticed by the world. All acts of kindness; whether small; medium or big means more than the person giving will ever know. That's the beauty. Give with no expectation of receiving.

We are looking forward to selling our home in the South and moving back to where our hearts find the most meaning. We look forward to reuniting with friends and family, but mostly we look forward to being better people, better partners, better daughters, better friends, and citizens of the world.

Happy New Year,

J

Lost Visitors/A New Era/The Cat/The Blower/Friends

1. It seems that we have lost a lot of our visitors lately here on the blog. I'm sure it's due to the lack of exciting posts lately, which I admit has fallen to the last of the priority list. It's hard to keep up on everything. I'm always unsure of new topics to blog about too because half the crowd likes political stuff, half just want to read something pleasant, and sometimes I have to make a statement for myself, that's why it's our blog. Anyway we'll try to spruce it up again and gain your attendance once again.

2. So I just turned 40 and entered another era, a new tax bracket, and everything. Funny though, 40 feels like 35 or 30, or even 25. Except the body is breaking more and more everyday. A lot of you out there know that I have had lots of injuries in my lifetime, mostly due to playing sports. I mostly struggle with low-back pain on a regular basis and have taken every measure imaginable out there from massage therapy to getting adjustments from a chiropractor, and even acupuncture, which worked really good. I'm now doing some physical therapy and have discovered through the PT that my pain is coming from weak hip and glute muscles along with my stomach muscles- the core. So I've been doing crunches and leg extension lifts and it's actually working, people. I quit working at the airport too, which helps now that I'm not lifting up to 50 lbs x 50 times a day and standing all the time. So hopefully this gets me back on the road to just enjoying life again without the pain. So here's to 40, as I sip my drink. :-)

3. So Joni and I are going to be gone for part of the week coming and we've decided to take Mr. Nose to the humane society where they can check him out and try to find another home for him. He sure is a cute guy but the way he waddles, makes me think he's older too. It's sad to have to say goodbye to a sweet little animal but we have no room in the inn. 3 is already enough for the next 20 years.

4. One of our favorite garden tools is the blower. Here in South Carolina, we live among a thousand trees and when the wind blows they all like to land in our pool or everywhere else. So a few weeks ago we had been using it and the next time I went to go get it, I couldn't find it. We searched high and low and it was no where to be found. There's a home being built two houses down from us and we just thought that maybe we had left the garage door up and one of the transient workers there happen to see it and snatched it. So we tell all of our friends that our blower has been stolen and we go buy a new one. Fast forward to about 6 weeks later- Joni informs me that she's cleaning out the pool house and found it under a pile of stuff that happen to fall down on top of it. So now we have two blowers and we feel bad for blaming the immigrant workers of two doors down but now we have a blower for both of us to blow at the same time. Somehow this doesn't sound very good does it? :-)

4. Friends- One of the hardest things about moving is that you won't be near your friends. Joni and I have made the best friends here, Tonya Walters and Lisa Coggins. We love these friends like our own families and it will be so hard to leave because of the friendship we have. We've committed them to at least one yearly visit to the great state of Utah and maybe two so they can be here during winter time to see our spectacular snow. Tonya and Lisa are avid South Carolina Gamecock football fans and they have season tickets to the games. They took us recently to the South Carolina vs. Arkansas game recently and we had a blast. They've won both times I've gone now. I keep telling them I'm the lucky link so they must take me more often.

5. This is my latest picture of Joni that I took last week. Isn't she a cutie? She'll be embarrassed I posted this but this is her blog afterall too. Maybe I can talk her into writing another entry soon.

Help! I'm a softie what can I say?

This is "Mr. Nose." That's my name for him since he's a stray and has lots of scars on his nose. He's been hanging out at our house for a few days now. He heard that there's three cool cats here. I'm a softie and gave him some food the other day, and this is where my problem comes in. I can't withhold food from a baby. But now he comes by every night. I probably shouldn't have fed him but there you go. Last night the temperatures dropped pretty low and I put out an old Cat bed with a blanket that wasn't being used. He used it in a heartbeat. Joni, who loves our babies, is not very happy with this new "friend." She thinks that we are not doing him a favor since we will be moving soon anyway.
I know we are getting a little attached but I have also observed that he has been someone's cat before. He has a collar on with no info and he's really friendly so someone has had him before. Any suggestions out there? I'm counting on my good friend, Kelli, to have a few suggestions. Do I stop cold turkey? Do I take him to the Humane society? Do I take him all around the neighborhood to find out his home?

I don't want to abandon him but now he's dependent on us but he cannot come to Utah with us. I'm going to print his picture and post it at the grocery store nearby. Maybe someone will recognize him.

Any ideas?