Stephany Writes

Categories: Recurring Series

Ten Days of Thanksgiving – Day 5

Today, I am thankful for Dutch.

Dutch and I have a fairly unhealthy obsession with each other, as my mom can attest. I let him kiss me all over my face. He sleeps tucked in right next to me, buried under the covers. When I’m watching TV, he’s always lying right next to me – or ON me. I miss him when I’m away and get excited every night I come home to see him. We cuddle, we kiss, and he knows exactly how to make me feel better when I’m sad.

Dutch is my third dog. My first was Minnie, a dog my parents bought from the SPCA when I was in fourth grade. She was a beagle-terrier mix and will always have a special place in my heart. She died in June 2008 from cancer. Buford was my second dog, an adorable, feisty Yorkshire terrier who was hit by a car and had to be put down due to his injuries a little over a year after we got him. (A family friend couldn’t keep him anymore so we jumped at the opportunity to have him.)

Minnie and Buford’s deaths hit me hard. They were both unexpected and frightening and heartbreaking.

I loved Minnie and Buford tremendously. More than anything.

But I love Dutch in a deeper, crazier, consuming way. When he’s around me, I’m constantly touching him, hugging him, telling him “I love you.” I cannot imagine my life without him. I’ve actually kept myself awake at night, thinking about the day he’s gone.

I realize this post may make me seem like a crazy dog lady, but I’m perfectly okay with it. I am a dog person, through and through. And I don’t think anyone who hasn’t had a dog can understand where I’m coming from. There is something special about dogs. They are loving and loud and affectionate. They fill up your heart with love and joy. They irritate you beyond belief sometimes and the barking can get annoying and sometimes, you have to wake up in the middle of the night to clean up after them. But you put up with it all because of all the happiness they bring you. Because you love them and they love you more than anything in the world.

Dutch has shown me what love is. He has shown me how to love. He greets me every time I come home with a wagging butt and cries and barks of “I’m so happy you’re home! I missed you so much!” (Or at least that’s what I choose to believe he’s saying, heh.) I am thankful for him, today and every day. He may annoy me with his stubbornness, constant barking, and inability to quit licking my face when I try to talk to him but he’s given me so much love and joy that it doesn’t even matter.

I don’t know what I’ll do with myself when he’s gone but for now, I’ll enjoy the times I have with them and cherish every face lick and loud bark.

Categories: Recurring Series

Ten Days of Thanksgiving – Day 4

Today, I am thankful for my ability to exercise.

I’ll admit I am never the one to bound out of bed in the morning to run or even to look forward to working out. I have daily debates in my head about whether or not I want to go to the gym after work and have a million excuses for why I can skip my workout for the day.

But I lace up my shoes 4-6 times a week and get my body moving, even when my whole mind is protesting against it.

Why?

Because I feel better when I do and worse when I don’t. Because I’m striving to live a healthy life and exercise is a part of that. Because it makes me feel strong and powerful. And because there will be a time in my life when I won’t be able to exercise. I’m hoping this time is far, far in the future but it could happen in an instant.

It was an instant for my mom. It was an instant for Ashley.

On Saturday, while my mom was on a long run for her marathon training, I got a call from her about 90 minutes into her run. She had fallen and her knee was hurting. She needed me to come get her. While her knee is fine, when she fell, she used her arms to break her fall and ended up re-injuring her elbow that she broke last year. It’s just a bruise, nothing major, but she hasn’t been able to run since then or do anything but low-impact exercise (recumbent biking and walking). When she was hit by a car, she couldn’t run for three months. She was in the middle of marathon training at this point so it severely disrupted her training program.

My worst injury to date was a sprained ankle two years ago and I was only out for a week. I couldn’t imagine having to take months off exercising or going from Ironman-fit to barely able to walk. It’s a scary thought and it’s something that could happen. So I need to take this time, when I am healthy and young, to be thankful I can exercise and stop the complaining.

I am thankful for my body that is strong enough to carry me through weight-lifting classes, spin classes, and runs. I am thankful for healthy lungs and a healthy heart that can keep up with how I push my body. I am thankful for strong legs and arms. I am thankful for the endorphins and happiness a good workout brings me. I am thankful for sweat, racing hearts, and being out of breath. I am thankful for my ability to exercise.

*Inspired by Lisa

Categories: Recurring Series

Ten Days of Thanksgiving – Day 3

I’m spending the next week and a half documenting and reflecting on ten things I am thankful for this year. (Inspired by Lisa.)

Today, I am thankful for blogging.

When I started this blog, I didn’t have any long-term goals for it. All I wanted was a fresh start and a place to just write. To grow. To explore. To not be afraid of sharing my feelings.

It’s grown into so much more than I could have ever imagined.

Not only have I found a place to talk about what I’m going through with real and honest emotion, but I have also found people to connect with. Friends who have let me know that I’m not the only one who has gone through something or not the only one who feels that way. I have found connection and support. Some of you have challenged me to set goals and take on things that frighten me. Some of you have been a place for me to vent to. Some of you have helped me with school assignments or offered me advice.

It hasn’t been a one-way street, though. With these friendships, I have become utterly intertwined with your lives. I have hurt when you hurt and celebrated with you. I have developed some of the closest bonds with bloggers, some of them morphing into weekly e-mail catch-ups. While I have yet to jump into the world of Skype dates (who wants to be my first?), I still relish these relationships.

And 2012 is the year I leap into meeting you amazing people in real life. I’ve spent too long harboring jealousy over blogger meet-ups and worrying what people will think of the “real” me that I want to break out of that cycle.

And I would be remiss in writing this blog post about blogging and meeting blog friends, without mentioning a very special blog friend I met this weekend. I started reading Amber’s blog two or so years ago when she was still in journalism school. We were able to connect over classes and I ate up her posts about entering the professional world. We met at City Walk in Orlando on Saturday night where we proceeded to spend the night talking about blogging, books, language differences, and the weather. (Yes, we discussed the weather. No, it wasn’t as boring as it seems.) We didn’t get a whole lot of time together but it was so good to finally meet someone whose life I had been following for years. I was nervous up until right before I saw her and then it was like catching up with a good, old friend. And now? Now I need to meet the rest of you.

Categories: Recurring Series

Ten Days of Thanksgiving – Day 2

I’m following along with Lisa over the next ten days, detailing ten things I am thankful for this year.

Today, I am thankful for my nephew.

Last night, my nephew came over for a sleepover since my mom is watching him today. (His daycare is closed because of Veteran’s Day and my brother and sister-in-law needed someone to watch him.)

My nephew is at a great age. He’s developing an insanely funny sense of humor. He’s more independent and communicative. And he is just so much fun to be around. He’s always been fun to be around, but he seems to get even more fun the older he gets.

This morning, I got up and came out into the living room to see him playing. The minute he spotted me, his eyes lit up and a big smile spread across his face. He immediately rushed over to me and gave me a big hug and a kiss. Those moments? They melt my heart.

There’s something about being an aunt that is special. My nephew has two other aunts and they have a closer relationship with him. It used to upset me that I’m probably never going to have a relationship with him like they do. Whenever we’re all together, it’s usually to them he goes to first. But I comfort myself in the fact that we have a different kind of relationship. And I comfort myself in the fact that we will always have a relationship and I will always be that aunt he can come to for a joke, a laugh, a smile.

I always knew I would love being an aunt. I knew I would love seeing my brother as a father. But I never knew how he would become such a force in our life. Or that life before him would seem so plain.

Being an aunt is one of the best gifts my brother has ever “given” me. It’s been such a wild ride and I just can’t wait to see this amazing little person grow up!

Tell me, what is one thing you’re thankful for today?

Categories: Recurring Series

Ten Days of Thanksgiving – Day 1

I’ve decided to join Lisa this year in her “Ten Days of Thanksgiving” series. In 2009, I wrote 100 Things I’m Thankful For and seemed to bypass the holiday completely last year so I think this is the perfect way to celebrate my favorite holiday.

Today, I am thankful for my job.

Today is my three-month “anniversary” with my job and it comes to me with a sigh of relief and utter happiness. It’s been a rocky three months, getting used to working full-time and learning the ropes but it has also been a happy three months.

Getting a job as a new graduate is not easy, especially for a new graduate with very little related working experience. My marketing internship was what ultimately landed me this job so I can’t stress enough how important internships are as a college student. They can give you invaluable experience. I have many friends from college who are still searching, six months after graduation.

Going to a forty-hour-a-week schedule hasn’t been a difficult adjustment. I was doing more when I was in school, working in the mornings and going to classes in the afternoons. My nights and weekends were filled with writing papers, doing homework, and studying for tests. I do not miss that phase of my life. Not one bit.

There has been a bit of, “So. This is my life now. For the next forty years. OK then.” It’s been an adventure to navigate the professional world. The only time before this one I worked in an office environment was when I worked for a small printing company in the summer of 2008. I was the office assistant but there wasn’t a lot for me to do. I basically brought my laptop and played on that the entire time I was there. This has been a different experience.

Even during the rocky moments, even when I questioned if I was the right fit for this position, I am still so happy to be here. I feel blessed with this opportunity.

I am an assistant. It is not the most glamorous job. I do a lot of filing and labeling and data entry. But it’s good. I’m not afraid of hard work. I’m young and inexperienced, I didn’t expect to have a glamorous job.

This place, though? It’s more than just a job. We’re changing lives here and I get to witness this on a first-hand basis. I get to see us raise thousands upon thousands of dollars for charities and call up unsuspecting people, telling them they have just won a prize package worth over $250,000. I couldn’t ask for a better first job.

What is one thing you’re thankful for today?