Surprises

We all love surprises, right?  I guess that depends on whether it is a good surprise or a bad one.  For example:

Good Surprise:
1.) New jobs
2.) New earrings and running pants hand selected by your husband for V-Day
3.) A lovely phone call from an old friend
4.) Running into an old friend
5.) Finding your bartender comped 2 of your happy hour drinks
6.) Getting an interview for grad school
7.) Listening to your child sing all the words of Baby Belguga. 
8.) Seeing the scale is 10 pounds lighter than it was on January 1st.

Bad Surprises:
1.) $1300 emergency vet bill
2.) Changing a poopy diaper on the go to discover you left your wipes at home
3.) Finding the milk in the cupboard--spoiled.
4.) Finding out you are losing your job in 4 days and you don't qualify for unemployment
5.) Getting pink eye
6.) Getting thrown up on at the zoo
7.) Ordering a tall coffee only to find you left your wallet at home


Alright, now for the story on these big surprises:

Our world has been turned upside down and backwards already several times this year.  January brought on the stress and dilemma of two job offers and grad school applications.  Just when we were getting caught up our cat developed a urinary blockage and cost us an emergency $1300 vet bill.  The poor guy is doing much better but gave us a lot of heartache when we weren't sure he would make it through the night. 

All the stress sent us to Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island, to visit with family and celebrate my 27th b-day.  We had such a wonderful time relaxing, catching up, playing, and sleeping in.  Yes, your read correctly.  I slept in.  3 days in a row.  My family sent me into the guest house and sacrificed themselves to wake up with my unruly children.  I never thought sleep would be the best 27th b-day gift ever! 

We finally got into the swing of things with our new schedule when I received unfortunate news that my new job was closing--at the end of the week.  After the devastation sunk in, I immediately contacted the people that offered me the first job back in January--as luck would have it they hadn't filled the position yet.  I start my new job working as a newborn hearing screener next week.  To add to the excitement of losing one job and gaining another, I was notified that I have an interview for my graduate school application on March 4.  I am nervous and excited.  At this point, I have seen doors open, close, and open again--whatever is meant to be will happen.  Keep your fingers crossed!

I made a commitment to start eating healthy and exercising this year.  All this stress has led me to rediscover running.  I used to run in high school and while I was good at it, I hated running.  I would use every excuse in the book to avoid running the mile.  Last month, I discovered the C25K program aimed at getting any couch potato running a 5k in 8 weeks.  Soon, I became obsessed.  I saw runners everywhere, watched their form, their breathing, their peace.  It looked so easy and so relieving.  On a gray, stressful Saturday, I downloaded the C25K app on my phone and ran for the first time since 2006--with a stroller and dog in tow.  The first week, I started off doing 60 seconds intervals of walking/jogging.  Now, I am on week 5 and getting ready to attempt a 20 minute run tomorrow.  Even better, I convinced my cousin to join me in this C25K journey which has made running more fun, challenging, and motivating.  We will be doing the St Patty's Day Dash on March 17th as a finale to our C25K challenge!

Kind of a random post, I know, but our life has been pretty random.  Our life is proof that you cannot plan for everything.  Instead of stressing, we are learning to just let it go, stay positive, and just enjoy what is in front of us! Keep us in your thoughts as we embark on even more changes and stay tuned to news on graduate school!