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.

BABIES

There seems to be an unusually large number of babies being born right now. It makes me wonder what was happening 9 months ago that is leading to all of them being born in the past couple of weeks. I don’t know…maybe the start of the brutally cold winter:) One of the most wonderful parts of my work is seeing pregnant women and children. I work with women throughout their pregnancy and often see many of the children once they are born. In fact, there have been quite a few times that I have gone up to the hospital and checked and adjusted the infants just following birth. Many people ask what I am doing checking and adjusting infants and what would make them need an adjustment if they were just born. Last week I had the privilege of going to the hospital to check baby Sheila. If you were in the room for the adjustment, you would be able to confirm the need for the adjustment as well. The little body of the almost 24 hour old baby was beautiful though you could tell she was contorted in utero and had been in one position for a long time which led to misalignment in the neck and pelvis. Sometimes misalignment’s like this will lead to inability to breastfeed on both sides comfortably, digestive challenges and who knows what else. Also the birth process, no matter how natural and uncomplicated it is, is very traumatic for the spine of the newborn. The parents of this little one were so ready for her to come into the world, however they also wanted to allow her to have the best chance of expressing life to the fullest, and that is why I was invited. When I left the room, I could tell that little one was started off on the right track. She was balanced and at ease and about to get her next meal. Happy babies lead to happy parents and happy and healthy families. If you would like more information about checking and adjusting newborns or children, please feel free to ask at anytime. So many parents are realizing that the health of their children largely depends on the health of their children’s spine and nerve system. At this Cafe…we serve LIFE!

LET THE SUN SHINE!!!

I do not ever remember having such a perfectly sunny and beautiful week here in Michigan in a long time, or maybe even ever. The evenings have been chilly with super brisk and crisp mornings and the afternoons open up to such beautiful blue skies, the kind of skies that one sees while out west. The temperatures are ideal and the sunshine is so wonderful for keeping attitudes and ultimately spirits lifted. Because so many people come to be served at the Cafe of LIFE daily, their moods infiltrate this space and even if we didn’t have any windows, I could tell you what it was like outside by the energy people bring in. Soak up the sun and let this week be a wonderful reminder of the reason we live here in Michigan. This state has so much to offer, so many beautiful sights to see and fun things to do. We often lose sight of the many ways we are blessed by being Michiganders. Get outside and take advantage of the sun shining over these next few days and into your long holiday weekend! We will too and we will all meet back here on Tuesday, September 8th, the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!
(The picture is a sunrise over Lake Huron from a vacation I took a few weekends ago. Beautiful!)

RUNNING WITH GRATITUDE

There are quite a few of you that ran the Crim over this past weekend. What an amazing race. 16,000 runners in all the races combined and what a party!!! There are some wonderful programs and ways in order to get the “non-runners” through this 10 mile race and a huge Crim Training Program that helps so many people reach goals they set. So the crowd is amazing and diverse and wonderful and what a trip!!! Anyways what I discovered 3 years ago when I ran the Chicago Marathon (yes the full 26.2 miles), is that it is better to dedicate the miles to something or someone. Otherwise, you find yourself dedicating your mind to focusing on the pain and the results are very painful. So I do not dedicate all 10 miles of the Crim to something different, I spend the entire race in deep gratitude: gratitude for having the ability to get up that morning and eat what I need to eat; gratitude to have a nice roof over my head and clothes to put on; gratitude to be able to have a car to get me to the race; gratitude for being able to share the race experience with my mom and a number of friends and practice members; gratitude for my life, my work, my family, my friends, and the list goes on and on. There is a moment in each of the long distance runs that I am welling up with tears of gratitude. Gratitude is an amazing and powerful attraction force in life and I am so grateful to have discovered that early so that I may use it everyday.
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” -Cicero

G.R.A.C.E

Many of you reading this blog from the local Fenton area, definitely have hear of the wonderful work of Nancy Stockholm, a social worker in the Fenton area that just gave and gave and gave. Anyways her organization was/is so perfectly called G.R.A.C.E. and stands for “God Rewards All Caring Endeavors”. That name came to mind when one of my practice members, we will call her J, came in today. J has been caring for an elderly woman for a while now and has really become a huge part of her life. J would go and sit with her, drive her around to any appointment she had, take her on small outings, etc. Well the elderly woman was recently put into a nursing home as it became challenging for her to live on her own anymore. This happened within the past two weeks, and in that process actually GAVE J her car. She actually just handed over the car, keys and paperwork for her to just have. Who does that anymore?!?! So J thought she was out of a job because the nursing home would take care of whatever needs that the elderly woman would have. But the woman’s family still wants J to swing my a couple times a week because of the friendship they have created. And wouldn’t you know it, J’s car, which was on its last leg anyways, has finally transitioned to not running. Perfect timing. The Universe always provides…

FALL

Every year at this time there is a tree down Hartland Rd that likes to be the first to warn the area that fall is coming. I am by no means ready to wish the rest of summer away however fall is my most favorite time of the year. The tree is an anomaly…when all of the other trees are going about their summer business of being green, this one decides to switch colors first as a warning of the fall season which will be upon us soon enough. In case you would like to look for it, it sits on the east side of Hartland Road (State Rd) just about .25 miles south of State Road Elementary School. I am pretty sure I am not the only one that has seen this tree, but I never noticed it changes colors before everyone else until someone pointed it out. Mother Nature, please hold off for about another month and then bring on the color show!

KIDS ARE HILARIOUS!!!

Hilarious kid #1:
Two days ago, one of my practice members was in and she has this granddaughter, we will call her “G” with this personality that would best be described as larger than life. G was staying with her for a few weeks over the summer since she was out of school. Just the other day, G had a curious look on her face as asked “Fanny (that is what she called her grandmother), what is an ex-wife?”. So the grandmother took a considerable amount of time explaining the concept of “ex-wife” to little G. At the end of the discussion, little G turned to her grandmother and said “Fanny, I think I want to be an ex-wife when I grow up.” I realize that later in life she will hopefully have aspirations not to be an “ex” anything however it makes sense to her at this point.

Hilarious kid #2:
Three weeks ago this gentleman came in for his weekly adjustment. With him came his 10 year old son with two friends of the same age and their plan was to go to Uncle Ray’s Dairyland where they plus about 15 other people were going to share a 5 foot long banana split. The three boys were sitting and watching intently as the father got adjusted. As my assistant and I were wrapping the visit up and getting things scheduled for his next visit I could hear his son begin to chuckle in the background. As they were leaving the son said under his breath to his friends “My dad just got beat up by a girl!”

This job is the greatest! Because I see so many full families, one of the best parts is watching the children figure out the world. They have an amazing at putting things together in a way that makes sense in their own little minds. I get some of the greatest laughs from them!

Medical Doctor: “You chiropractors haven’t changed in 100 years, while medicine is constantly changing! What do you have to say about that?!”
Chiropractor: “You only need to change what doesn’t work” (true story from Tedd Koran)

LIFE UNIVERSITY

So this weekend will be spent in Atlanta, or “Hot-lanta” as it is dubbed. It is going to be a super fun weekend filled with friends and colleagues and prospective chiropractic students. Life University is located just north of downtown Atlanta and boasts the largest population of chiropractic students in the world. It is a wonderful place, on a beautiful campus, where true philosophically based chiropractic is taught. The weekend is more than just recruiting, it is about pushing these students outside of their comfort zone and introducing them to the idea that the sky is the limit, whether they choose chiropractic as their career field or not. We need more chiropractors here in the US as well as around the world. If you or someone in your life has ever considered chiropractic as a career, please come or send them to come and chat with me. There are some awesome resources out there to aid in the transition into school and financial aid available to make your career dreams come true. See you there!

A VISITOR

This morning, as Victoria was opening the Cafe of LIFE, she realized that there was a HUGE, beautiful dragonfly caught in a spider’s web. She rescued him from and she has become his new best friend. He is super content here in the Cafe of LIFE for the day and we are happy to have him. I wanted to share this photo so you could all enjoy him as well. This is him posing on a rose in our reception area as his best friend takes his picture. The book “When Animals Speak; The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small” by Ted Andrews says that “when dragonflies show up in your life, you may need to get some fresh air in regard to something emotional. You may need to gain a new perspective or make a change…the dragonfly remains a nymph (baby) for almost 2 years before it transforms into an adult, which can indicate that an approximate two-year period of change is about to reach its culmination…Life is never quite the way it appears, but it is always filled with light and color. Dragonfly can help you to see through your illusions and thus allow your own light to shine forth. Dragonfly brings the brightness of transformation and the wonder of colorful new vision.” I like the sound of all that!

1 MONTH LEFT

I am runner and I have 1 month left. Did I ever tell you that? I officially am a runner and the only thing that really makes it “official” is that I really love to run. I have always, as far back as I can remember, wanted to learn to love to run. So in January 2006, I decided I would sign up to run a marathon, Chicago Marathon, on October 22 (which is actually my “half birthday” which made it kind of fun). So I started training. From January to October that year, all I did was eat, sleep, work and run. My weekends were spent running, cross-training and recovering and I had it planned out during the week exactly when and how far I need to run on what day. If I varied from that schedule, my training schedule would be off so I was regimented. It was great and on October 22, I woke up, ate breakfast, bundled up (when the race started it was a mere 35 degrees), and ran 26.2 miles (the picture to the right is me running that race). Finishing that race and actually crossing the finish line was one of the most incredible feelings I have ever had in my life. I would maybe do it again just for the feeling at the finish line. Incredible. But in the meantime I still like to participate in some other races and the CRIM (dubbed Coolest Race In Michigan) happens this year on August 22. I haven’t done a whole heck of a lot of running lately, but I can easily pull off 5 miles without any prep. My body just reverts back to all that training in 2006. So over the next 4 weeks I need to get some serious miles in my sneakers. I am looking forward to it. This will be the 5th year running the CRIM, the first year just did the 8K and the last 3 I have completed the 10 miler. It is a great race, a super fun day in Flint and I will be ready. I know there are a lot of runners out there that enjoy that race as well and if you are there….MEET ME ON THE DANCE FLOOR AFTERWARDS!!!!