Author: Dr. Erica Peabody

Fenton, MI is a great place to be from and to move back to. Serving this community the "Exceptional Chiropractic Experience" at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic is my favorite way to spend my days. Cafe of LIFE (www.cafeoflifefenton.com) is a Family Wellness Chiropractic Center located in the heart of this great little town. When I am not at my chiropractic practice, you will find me at the yoga studio, the gym, in my running shoes, with my family, on my snowboard, on my mountain bike, surfing, on the lake or some local restaurant or hiking trail. My ultimate goal and life purpose is to make a small difference in this crazy world...and have some fun while I am doing it.

GOOD FRIENDS….

…make life so much sweeter. I have some super good friends that I got to celebrate my birthday with over the past weekend. One of these girls I have known for 22 years, one I have known for 18 years and the other I have known for 2 years. A wide range of years…which makes it even better. The other super fun part of this group of friends is that each of them are similar and yet so different that it makes for fun, engaging conversation. We met up for sushi and then went out for some dancing. It is funny, and a comedian once did a skit about the differences between men and women, one of them being that women get together and want to head out somewhere where there is going to be dancing involved. You never hear about a group of men looking for a place to go dancing together. The differences between men and women are, of course, way to numerous to mention here but I just thought I would bring your attention to that one. My birthday was a good one, the week had just the right amount of celebration, and I am really looking forward to the coming year. I can tell it is going to be amazing!!!

EARTH DAY CLEAN-UP

This past Saturday Simple, the health food store next door, and the Cafe of LIFE got a group of people together and picked up garbage all over the downtown area. We actually anticipated to be able to cover more of the downtown area, however there was SO MUCH GARBAGE that we weren’t able to do much more than just about 3-4 blocks. I always thought that Fenton was a pretty clean area, however if you would have joined me, you would have been embarrassed at the amount of garbage that was out there, not to mention cigarette butts. Amazingly disgusting!!! I am not sure if you all realize that the Shiawassee River is a tributary to the Great Lakes and that everything that happens in those tributaries translates to damage to our Great Lakes. The whole clean-up experience was really eye-opening because we are but just one small town along the watershed. From our experience on Saturday we have decided that instead of waiting until next Earth Day to do another clean-up, we will schedule one about a month from now and hopefully get some more participation. It really does take everyone to keep this community and earth clean and I think it is time to have a little more respect. Come join us!!!

CHARLEI MAE

My niece entered the world this past Sunday morning. My oldest brother is a dad!!! Between the 4 of us kids, this is the first baby and so of course Charlei is an absolute delight and we have been anxiously anticipating her arrival for a while now. I have to share a few pictures of her because she is so precious. Her mom, Rachel, was a total rockstar and delivered Charlei naturally, attended by a midwife, a nurse and of course my brother Nate. I am so lucky they live right here in Fenton and I will be able to visit and hang out and participate in her life and their lives…Charlei, you picked a great family!

WOW THIS HEALING PROCESS!!!

As many of you know, this last trip to Colorado ended with a pretty severe injury. This picture below is me just seconds before the incident and it is me giving two thumbs up (thought it may look like middle fingers—I wear mittens people!!!! 🙂 It was the first run on my snowboard on the very first day and I was hit by another snowboarder. For me, I usually brush things off as no big deal. Well this time, when I went to do that, it turned out it was a bigger deal that I had anticipated at first. In fact, such a big deal that we had to call the ski patrols to come and pick me up off the mountain. I was in a LOT of pain, and I mean a LOT! I have been skiing since I could walk and for the past 14 years have been snowboarding and that was the very first time ever that I rode down with a ski patrol. It turns out that nothing was broken and nothing was torn, just a severe sprain of my right shoulder. I am so grateful that just the day before I had bought myself a brain bucket. I had never worn one of those and it saved me, probably not saved my life (I don’t think the fall was life-threatening), but definatly saved me from worse injury. So the rest of the day was spent sleeping and icing and heating and filling my body full of supplements to help aid the healing process. The next morning I woke up and though I could barely move my right arm at all, I was in Breckenridge and the sun was shining and if any of you are like me…I cannot miss an opportunity so I was back out there. The guy that I was with spent the entire day clipping me in and out of my bindings at the top and bottom of the runs. I was also with a bunch of chiropractor friends so getting adjusted a lot helped the healing process to begin. It turned out to be a great weekend and since then, simply sitting back and watching my body heal and my shoulder get stronger and stronger everyday is an amazing thing. Can you imagine if we needed to know all the little processes in our bodies that lead to our healing, what to put where and what blood and other chemicals need to flow when in order to orchestrate the process. Thank goodness we have an intelligence inside that takes care of making sure everything gets done, so literally we can just sit back and watch it all happen. In that process I am doing all my usual stuff, which includes eating well, drinking tons of water, getting adjusted, getting massage therapy and acupuncture, doing yoga and getting exercise and taking my supplements. The body has an amazing ability to heal from just about anything, we just have to give it the opportunity to do so. It will be a little while before my shoulder feels 100%, however I am going to continue to trust the process. 🙂

SURFING

One more post about Ecuador which I have been meaning to get back to before I got rudely interrupted by the big celebrations around here with the 5th birthday and all:)
Have you ever surfed? I have done a bit in my life, in fact first learning 4 years ago on the Jersey Shore from my good friend and boyfriend at the time that lives there. The entire trip to Ecuador was all based around surfing so I probably better prove that I actually did that while I was there…and I did…a LOT of it. We surfed 2 sessions per day for anywhere between 45 minutes to 2 hours. Exhausting and super fun. The water was wonderful and as long as there was cloud cover, it was a good time. Without the clouds, we would burn through no matter what SPF we put on so the clouds on this trip were a blessing. One of the greatest parts about surfing is just being in the water. Once you get out beyond the break, there is a peace in sitting and waiting. Sometimes it is with other people and sometimes it is all alone with thoughts and dreams and yourself. I learned a lot about reading what the water is going to do. There is a universal rhythm to the way the water moves and an ebb and flow to it all and to learn to watch and listen for that was a very peaceful and wonderful process. Most of the week I spent inside the break line as I am not interesting in getting completely tossed by some of the huge water we were in. The last few days I was beginning to get really daring as I had learned a lot and the last day I caught a HUGE wave, paddled in, caught it, and rode down the face of it. It was a super cool moment in my life. Unfortunately one cannot catch every moment on camera (though I do try my hardest) but it is a moment and feeling that is locked into my being forever. I am a snowboarder at heart, and surfing kind of fits into that as well. So I asked myself when I was out there on the water…if I love snowboarding so much, what is it that is missing from surfing that makes me not “over-the-top” crazy about it. Don’t get me wrong I do like to surf…but I LOVE to snowboard. What I realized is that I love the exploring part of snowboarding, almost like hiking but on a snowboard. My favorite places to snowboard are out west in Colorado and when I am there, not only do I get to ride snow waves, I also get to explore the outdoors with some of those places covering HUGE amounts of area. Some think I must be an adrenaline junkie to participate in some of the sports that I do. It isn’t that at all and if you saw how I ride, you would realize it is more of a meditation than anything. It is about being present and aware and in that place there is a lot of peace. RIDE ON!!!!

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These are all the words that describe people’s experience here at the Cafe of LIFE, coming directly from them. I do what I do because I love to help people and I love chiropractic and if what I do for other is described from the above words, I feel strongly that is a sign of success…and I am looking forward to many more years ahead!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAFE OF LIFE!!!

Everyone always told me that the years go faster as you get older. It is so true and I am in complete disbelief that it has been 5 years since I have opened the doors of the Cafe of LIFE!!! 5 years ago I moved home and I remember looking at all kinds of office space all over Birmingham and Ann Arbor. Those two cities were high on my radar for locations that I wanted to be in. Then one day I was driving around Fenton and there was a building for sale that I thought would be a great fit for what I was looking to create and it began to get me thinking of possibly opening my office here instead. That building was not a good fit after all so I began to look at different spaces for rent and ended up finding the perfect fit and opening my doors on March 12, 2005 at 110 Trealout Dr (across the street from Lovey’s on North Leroy). Wow! What an adventure it had been. When I first opened, my priority was to make sure that I was only tied into a 1 year lease since I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to be here in Fenton, well and maybe because I was a bit of a commitment-phobe at the time:) So the years have gone by faster than I ever imagined possible and I am still so blessed and fortunate to be serving the Fenton and surrounding communities the “Exceptional Chiropractic Experience” and loving every minute of it. Thank you, all of you who have had any part of helping the Cafe of LIFE to grow roots in this community. I am so grateful to have a place her, to serve you and be able to do what I love to do.

DOMESTICATION

There is a strange things that happens in countries like Ecuador (which I visited last week), as well as Costa Rica (which I visited in December). There are dogs everywhere. All kinds of dogs, mostly mutts and they are all allowed to just roam free and be true pack animals. What was incredibly evident to me this time visiting Ecuador was that none of the dogs are getting hit by cars. Here in the United States, because of how we have domesticated animals and especially dogs, our pets run out into the street with no clue how dangerous the cars are that are heading straight towards them. In these other countries that I visited, the dogs know that the street means danger and that cars are huge dangerous things to be in front of. Now don’t get me wrong, I am sure there are dogs hit every once in a while, however if you put a bunch of dogs from the United States down there, it would be a nightmare of carnage. There is an order that is followed, so to speak. The children in those countries are the same way. Many times while we were driving, children around the ages of 3 -5 would be walking along the side of the road without any parents in sight. Donkeys, horses, cows, chickens, pigs…all of them roaming around without limits, all of them staying clear of cars on the roads, all of them contributing to the peaceful life. Now, I am by no means saying that this would be a good idea for this country…not saying that at all. I just thought it was pretty interesting and something to think about…