Scattered Thoughts . . .

This past Saturday morning, Kenzie and Gee ran a 5K run together.  This was their second year running in this particular event and it was obvious that they enjoyed themselves again this year!  I enjoyed being there too! I had heard on the news that 1200 people ran in this year's Girls on the Run 5K event.  Just like last year, Kenzie and Gee were in the first of four groups for the staggered start.  They were near the front of the pack at the start as well as at the finish.   We arrived at the fairgrounds at 7:30 in the morning as the gates opened.  This allowed us to get a front row parking spot as well as allowed us to beat the traffic getting into the fairgrounds.  It also allowed Kenzie and Gee to get prepared and focused for their run.   As you can see in the photo, below, Kenzie was wound up and ready to go when we arrived...  she got some good air for this photo... Below, Kenzie's coach is pinning Kenzie's name and number onto her shirt... A shot of the crowd... Belo

The start to 2023 has been absolutely horrible and the next few months, at the very least, already promise to be just as stressful and rather miserable. Sheila's mom, known as Nan in many other blog entries here, has been struggling with Alzheimer's Disease for about four years now.  Over the past few months...  hmmm, I think it has been since summer...  she had dipped into end-stage Alzheimer's and is now in the hospital with a fractured spine and in the worst condition she has ever been in to date.   I'm not going to go into specifics here but this has been incredibly stressful for the rest of her family as one would expect.  She has been hospitalized for a couple of weeks at this point and I'd say she is just "surviving" now or "holding on"...  not "living" like we all try to do but just surviving one moment to the next. This is sort of like the body being on autopilot.  So, the past couple of months have been terribly rough for Shei