Fenton MI – We Only Get One Chance

NOURISHING

I have not been one that has much time to spend on gardening or flowers or tending to things in the yard. I am learning a lot about nourishing this summer.

I have walked through many greenhouses in my life. I have always been inspired by the beauty of them but I also remember having to plant marigolds growing up and then weeding that garden and it wasn’t something that was enjoyable as a kid. At all. So I brought that concept into adulthood. I love indoor plants and always have, but this season has been about nourishing outdoor plants as well.

One thing I would always notice while walking through greenhouses are those drip hoses that go continuously. I ALWAYS thought a constant drip to every single one of those plants seemed excessive. My thoughts would go to “gosh that is a lot of water and why can’t they just water them a couple times a week and call it good?”

Um…yeah. I am learning this year.

I have beautiful planters at my home and they are filled with petunias and greens. I have a couple hanging baskets and at one point, I bought enough at one of the greenhouses that they offered me a free tomato plant.

So here I am with these BEAUTIFUL planters and now is the time to begin nourishing them. I bought the proper fertilizer and a nice watering can and I am good.

I began to give them a good dousing of water and then put my watering can away for a couple days. I would leave in the morning for work and continue on with my life. By the end of the second day the petunias would shrivel up and threaten to “off” themselves. So I would douse them again and then try to put my watering can away for a couple days and they would do it again…and again and again.

So I started to learn that these things need to be nourished every single day. It took me about 3 weeks to realize this and I would hear people say “I just didn’t want to be a tied to my yard and garden this year and so I didn’t plant anything.”

The indoor house plants are on a weekly watering schedule. The outdoor plants are on a daily watering schedule. When I took a few days away from my home, I was more concerned that my plants get watered every single day than anything else since I had invested so much time into them. Fortunately for me, my Mom lives close and she was able to stop by every single day to do that, but they are THRIVING!!!

I am learning a lot from my moody petunias this summer. The main lesson: If you want something to grow and flourish, it is important to nourish it every single day!

I have had this awareness in a lot of areas in my life through lessons over the years however this beautiful representation in my life right now is so timely…and I am bringing it back to focus on myself.

It is my greatest joy to work with my patients every week, they bring such good energy to my life, my heart and my soul. Doing the work that I do, I have found great purpose in helping people regain their health, uplevel their health and continue to thrive inside of their bodies. And I have learned that ready or not, you will all show up at or office as soon as our doors open.

I spend a good portion of my downtime prepping my body and mind to be ready to serve at my office. I am doing all the things I tell you to do: Eat good food, exercise, keep a sound mind, stress management, connection and rest. But those are the bare minimum. This alone time, quarantine time, has been devoted to finding more nourishing things I can do within the guidelines set by this crazy time. Watering my plants is one of them.

My days begin with letting the dog out to do his business while I fill the watering can for the first time. It takes 3 fills to nourish the plants I have right now and a little time pulling off dead portions and discarding so the plant can send more good juju to the thriving areas.

It brings a lot of joy to my heart and soul to nourish these and experience what the daily nourishing leads to. As I look ahead, I have often wondered if I have to water every single day, will I plant as much next year? The benefit and enjoyment of them WAY outweighs the time it takes to nourish them. It is a 10x payback from this act of nourishing.

Look around in your life. What are you spending your time nourishing? Is it an even exchange or are you being depleted by it? Are you nourishing yourself? Nourishing your body? Nourishing your mind? Nourishing your soul? Nourishing your connections? Nourishing your family? Nourishing your relationships? Nourishing your community? What a beautiful thing!!

MIDLAND DISASTER RELIEF

Inside of all the ways that life is crazy and busy and shifting on a daily basis, imagine that your home or place of employment was washed out by major flooding and you lost some or everything you owned. Some of the residents of Midland, Michigan experienced just that and I was able to join the Midland disaster relief efforts.

The Michigan Association of Chiropractors put out an email a week ago asking for volunteers to offer their time and services to the disaster relief workers and also the residents that have been effected by the flooding. There is a tent set up at Calvary Baptist Church and School in Midland and volunteer chiropractors are going to be manning the tables there on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays 12p-2p indefinitely. If you are in that area, please look for the burgundy tent that is set up and stop in to get your spine checked!

I have had a lot going on in my personal and business life but honestly that stuff never outweighs the LASTING PURPOSE that lives inside of me. Lasting Purpose is a principle that the chiropractic profession was based on and it means “To Give, To Love and to Serve out of our own sense of abundance.”

Many people have asked how I come up with the energy to donate my time like that, my own Lasting Purpose drives me to do it all.

I shared in a couple FACEBOOK LIVE videos a little bit about what is happening up in the Midland, Michigan area. It is truly devastating to know that our “neighbors” have not only dealt with the global pandemic that has been happening and sheltering in place due to executive orders, but also watched as severe flooding was heading their way and trying to rescue items from their homes prior to the damage.

Many of the homes and businesses will never be the same. There were disaster relief workers from all around the country there helping people restore some sense of order and assist in repairing and rebuilding their homes.

It is nice to be a helper and it is extra nice to help the helpers. It is nice to be of service to the community giving the chiropractic adjustment to allow for things inside of their bodies to settle and help them to integrate stresses. It is nice to be barefoot in the grass with my table, my hands, a smile on my face and a couple colleagues by my side helping others. It is truly the magic in this life.

Many have asked how they can help. If you are a chiropractor, grab your portable table and drive up to the tent and set it up and open up your heart. If you are a contractor, I am sure there is someone organizing efforts and so maybe contacting the Calvary Baptist Church would be a good place to start. If you just want to go up and help clean up, I am sure if you just showed up at the church, someone would take you onto their crew. I wish I had all the links to hand out to you and how to get involved. I honestly don’t have the personal bandwidth to find out much more information except I sought out my own way to help.

I have had so so many inquiries about this service mission I just wanted to share. I would encourage you to find some way, even if it isn’t up inside the Midland disaster relief work, to help people.

“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve. ” –Albert Schweitzer

NEW

WOW!! Is life crazy or what? It feels all brand new. But not like the super great brand new that we have been wanting and looking forward to, more like a new that hit us smack in the face, shoved our noses into it and said “Here!!! FIGURE IT OUT!!!”

I know we are all in this same kind of boat although we are not navigating the exact same waves, I know that for sure. Some are working from home while also learning to teach school. Some are displaced from life or work or family or whatever it is…but we are all out here doing our very best with the unknows. It literally feels like most of life is filled full of unknowns.

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Dr Erica Peabody - New

You haven’t heard from me through this format in a long time as navigating it all has pushed blogging to the back burner. One other stumbling block is my laptop was on its last leg for a few months. I would begin writing here or inside of an office newsletter and in the middle, prior to be able to save it, it would kick me all the way back off and discard all that I had written. Life has taken a lot of extra energy lately and so trying to deal with that as well was just plain frustration.

So I ordered a new laptop and braved the curbside pick-up they had set up and honestly it was seamless and rather delightful!! So I now have a brand new machine to communicate with you better. I am excited to move forward with this blog and creating other content as we all learn to navigate this brand new life.

I take solace in writing and sharing in this manner and hopefully it remains interesting and entertaining as I share tips and trick, but probably more brutal honesty as we move through the stories of life: mine, my practice, friends, colleagues, being a dog mom, my family….on and on we will go. Check back here regularly and of course all of these posts will be shared on my social media platforms.

Years ago, I named this blog “We Only Get One Chance” and I still live and eat and breathe by that tagline in my day to day. Maybe now, more than ever before, others have really increased their awareness around that as well, that we really do get only one chance. It is time to make the very best of it!!

New computer, new life, many unknows and a new commitment to sharing and helping in any way I can. Stay tuned!!

PART 2

To continue from the previous blog, I wanted to give you an update on where I am now, following my Patent Foramen Ovale closure surgery, but also answer some of the questions you have had since the first post. Welcome to part 2.

In August of 2019, I was at my regular yearly check-up with my primary care physician. Now when I say “regularly yearly check-up” I haven’t been to anything “regular” and “yearly” except to see my chiropractor and functional medicine practitioner in years. Being a spouse of a GM employee required that I do certain things on that insurance and so I am following the rules.

When I was in that appointment, I said to her, “I know I have a hole in my heart. I may be planning to have my own family in the next couple years and I would like to pursue getting is closed ahead of time.” I had a different cardiologist recommended to me but she told me to absolutely go back to the same one I saw before and that he is the greatest in this region.

One test was redone and a few more tests were added to the mix to determine exactly the size and location. Funny and not funny part of this is that I happen to be a healthcare provider and also in good health inside of a cardiologist’s office and so they sort of took it for granted that I would already know how this whole thing would go.

I asked questions along the way, and although I didn’t get “blown off” it was more like “of course yes that happens…” and “of course no way it would go that way…” was always the attitude. Which ended up probably being a test to me and my ability to trust.

I am a generally trustworthy kind of person and so I just turned it all over to them to do what they needed to do and know that I was in the best care in the region. On that I settled in, navigated through it all and am now here to tell the story on the other side.

Many have asked “How are you feeling now?”

I feel GREAT!!! I truly do. Instantaneously following surgery my hands and feet were warm for the first time in my entire life. I remember back in chiropractic college, my fellow classmates would always mention just how cold my hands all the time. I didn’t know any better so I had no idea it was even an issue.

Best Chiropractor - Part 2 - Dr Erica Peabody - Kilimanjaro

By this point in the game, 12 weeks out from surgery, I have skipped what I would count to be 9 migraine headaches (I’m tallying this due to my history of roughly 3 per month). I haven’t had even one. I don’t even get any headaches that I know of anymore, or nothing that I would even count as a tension or cluster headache.

I am able to workout and do what I want to do at this point and feel pretty amazing. Three weeks ago I started back at step aerobic class and looking back on teaching step for over a decade of my life, I feel incredible. The step I take now I can keep up with the HIIT moves and can actually do a burpee without blacking out!!!

I will begin to run again soon. If you have been to my office, you can see my collection of participation medals although not many from anytime recently. I will know more once I begin to train for the CRIM this year, it is a race I have done numerous times and I am curious to see if my finishing times improve and just how well I recover. I will begin back to the triathlon sport as well and look forward to seeing how my swimming progresses.

If you have followed this blog at all, you know that I had a severe foot injury following my summit of Mt Kilimanjaro back in 2017. (I have added the video log link below in case you missed it thus far…it was EPIC!!)

I wore a walking boot for 6 solid months and have been working with that foot at about 80% healed. Now I am beginning to not even have to think about it at all…warm hands and feet mean that blood supply is actually going to my feet at a better rate and I AM HEALING!!!

I truly feel great and I am so, so, so, so grateful to have been a candidate for the closure as I just know for the next decades of my life, I will be far better off.

One of the questions I have gotten a few times along the way is “how do I find out if I have this or not?” as a few of you may be suspecting something similar for yourself now listening to this story. I have to send you right back to your own general practitioner to get that resolved.

The recovery has been amazing and pretty simple for the most part. The cardiologist had me on a blood thinner since the anatomy of the heart changed and has since taken me off to proceed into my life exactly as I want to.

Dr Erica Peabody - Part 2 - Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan

Your words of encouragement as well and your good wishes are appreciated more than I can really say in words here on this blog. It has been quite an experience and I hope that my sharing this information, that you feel a little more informed and educated about the possibilities.

Of course, all along I have continued chiropractic care, massage therapy and stayed in touch with my functional medicine practitioner. I have continued yoga and meditation and am now back at full capacity in the gym. In essence, I have done the things that we talk about in the practice all the time: eat well, move well and think well. These are truly the keys to optimizing the body and it’s inborn ability to heal, and even more critical to healing from something like that.

Thanks for checking back for part 2 and stay in touch as time progresses…there is a lot more to share!

HUMILIATED

I am absolutely humiliated!

A patient walked into the Cafe of LIFE last Wednesday afternoon and asked me where I was earlier that day and why I wasn’t here when my office hours said I would be here.

“What do you mean? I am always here for our office hours Wednesday morning is 7:30a-10a.”

“That is not what your business card says.”

When we looked closer, our business cards have our office hours as “7:30am-1pm”. For months.

Sometimes when reviewing a proof for those kinds of things, the brain will look at something, skim right over an error and make up something completely different. That is exactly what happened.

So in essence it has looked like we just high-tail it out of here whenever we feel like it on Wednesday during that time slot. And if you know me like most of you do by now, I would NEVER do that.

She continued, “Yeah I was talking to my mom and she said ‘well she must just come and go as she pleases.’ You really don’t seem like that kind of a person to me.”

Um…I am NOT that kind of a person and I am not that kind of professional! I feel a lot of responsibility to all of you and there are a lot of people that rely on us. I was born with punctuality and responsibility woven into my fabric, that is just how I am.

So needless to say we looked over all our thousands of card that I ordered just a couple months ago and realized they were all wrong. In the meantime, every person that has come into this office, we always tell them, “Make sure to grab a card at the front desk, our hours are on the back.”

OH. MY. GOODNESS. I am seriously humiliated.

Yes I am only human and there are humans involved in the making and printing process of these things and mistakes can happen.

And by now I am sure you can imagine just how very GRATEFUL I am to this lady who brought this mistake to my attention!!!

The last thing I want to do is look like a slacker, and especially when I am not.

To all of you out there reading this that we may have confused and misled, I apologize and am so humiliated. Live and learn, right? You can bet I will have many different sets of eyes on all future materials like that.

THAT’S INCREDIBLE!

The most incredible thing is happening today and I am positive by the end of this post, you will be saying “THAT’S INCREDIBLE!” too!

Many of you remember the post I made about My First Best Friend back in April. My cousin, Danielle, who also happens to be my very first best friend in my life, her husband had a sudden brain bleed. At the moment it happened, it was beyond belief, “things like that don’t happen to people I know” was my initial thought.

But it really did happen and it has changed the course of their lives forever.

You may have remembered a couple months after that initial post, I wanted to give you an update of their status, and posted A Smile.

Today, this morning, 6 months and 2 weeks to the day…Scott is coming home. THAT’S INCREDIBLE!!!!

They have transferred to many different places and for the past few months have been over in Grand Rapids, a little too far for me to travel regularly to visit with them. I have done what I could to let her know I am here with her every step of the way, and mostly through text message. Although text seems impersonal at times, I know their days are filled with therapies and when she was not there with him, she was driving back home to Durand daily to take care of her home and her boys.

Here is a little snippet of the past 6 months between her and I.

Me: “Sending you love. How are you guys doing?”
Danielle: “I am hanging in there. It has been tough but I know he is going to come through this.”

Danielle: “He started moving his hands and playing with my wedding ring today!”
Me: “Awesome! THAT’S INCREDIBLE!!”

Danielle: “He is blinking his eyes and seems to be able to focus on things.”
Me: “Good. I am so relieved. THAT’S TRULY INCREDIBLE!”

Danielle: “I finally got him to smile. It was the most wonderful thing I have ever seen…”
Me: “Wow! That is totally awesome!!”

Danielle: “He mouthed ‘I love you’ to me when I left today.”
Me: “Oh my goodness! THAT’S INCREDIBLE!”

Danielle: “He was able to speak some words out loud today.”
Me: “Wow! THAT’S INCREDIBLE!”

Danielle: “His memory is good and improving every day.”
Me: “That guy is amazing! THAT’S SO INCREDIBLE!!”

Danielle: “He held an instrument and started to play some chords today.”
Me: “THAT”S FREAKIN’ INCREDIBLE!”

Danielle: “He was able to eat solid foods today.”
Me: “THAT’S INCREDIBLE!”

Danielle: “We got to go on a drive today.”
Me: “I bet that was amazing. So INCREDIBLE!”

Danielle: “He is being accepted to a program that only takes success cases. They expect complete recovery.”
Me: “OH MY GOODNESS!!! THAT”S INCREDIBLE!”

Danielle: “He stood up today. I almost forgot how tall he is.”
Me: “THAT”S INCREDIBLE.”

Danielle: “He is walking with a walker today.”
Me: “THAT”S INCREDIBLE!”

Danielle: “He is walking on his own with minor assistance.”
Me: “UNBELIEVABLE!!! THAT”S INCREDIBLE.”

Danielle: “We got a release date for him to finally come home!!!”
Me: “Holy cow!!! That guy is AMAZING!!! THAT”S INCREDIBLE!!!!”

When I would respond to all of these things that he was able to gain back after losing everything, my usual response truly was, “THAT’S INCREDIBLE!” because it was and is. She would always reply back to me with “Yes, he is truly remarkable.” or “Yes, he is just incredible.”

Every bit of the recovery he has made has been incredible. When doctors change their tone from “he is not going to make it” one day, to “Wow! We didn’t expect that to happen!” and “He is not doing what we normally expect in this situation.” the very next day…it was incredible.

It is not over, their journey is still going to be long and winding and there is a lot of work to do. He has come so far but please keep praying and sending healing thoughts towards them. She is an angel and deserves a lot of credit. I have never seen anyone love so much, push so hard, encourage so much, learn so much, fight for someone, support so gracefully, get so involved and be so strong. She has a gift. She is a gift. He is a gift. And the love that exists between those two is a gift to this world. It truly is incredible!

WELL ADJUSTED SCHOOL

I was on my way up to the top of a mountain with 2 other doctors when I was pulled from the car

to go serve in a school with 720 children. I am here to serve and will go where I am needed and

WOW!!! what awesome opportunities!!! Can you imagine a well adjusted school, much less a well

adjusted elementary school? What a concept, huh?

When the children see us with our tables, they do not know exactly what is going to happen,

but they can tell they are in for a treat. We were given the room above and the children

piled in and filled up the seats and each took their turn.

Chiropractor Fenton Michigan 10
I adjust a lot of children at the Cafe of LIFE and one of the things it really helps

with is when children are stuck on the “gas pedal” in their bodies. They run and

run and run and run, and are just being children. Some can become sometimes

difficult to manage and often times that is when they are stuck in “gas pedal” mode. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan 13

Chiropractic care helps get off the “gas pedal” and apply some brakes. Getting adjustments helps them to find a better balance in their entire body thus improving their quality of life, as well as those around them. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan 15

This morning at the school, Dr. Austin and I were going to go it together. We adjusted non-stop for a couple hours and then as Dr. Haley was finishing with her community in the upper elevations, the driver dropped her off with us. I have to say we were relieved to have another set of hands willing to serve.

I would be interested to know how the afternoon at the school went after everyone got checked this morning…including the teachers!!! The concept of a well adjusted school seems like it would be a dream come true for the education system. Anywhere.

A SMILE

Never underestimate the power of a smile.

Did you wake up smiling today? Have you smiled yet? Why? How many times? At who? In what setting?

I am realizing as time ticks by, and the wrinkles start to set into my face, the most noticeable ones are my smile lines and I am pretty alright with that.

“A smile is the shortest distance between two people.”

Fenton Chiropractor Smile — Scott and Danielle 2012

A smile stands for connection, joy, hope, happiness, love, compassion, peace and understanding. However, it can also portray nervousness, anxiety and uncertainty. The default expression that crosses my face for any and all of the above is a smile, hence by deep smile lines, often accompanied by giggles or uncontrollable laughter. That is just my style.

I see a lot of pregnant mothers in my chiropractic practice and I get to watch as they spend their first weeks together with their new babies. I think the first time the baby smiles is one of a new parent’s proudest moments. But once they start doing it, they usually do a lot of smiling. That is what we do as humans and it gets to a point that the initial excitement wears off a bit and smiles become a normal part of life, we begin to take that expression for granted.

The last blog post I wrote was about My First Best Friend and how my cousin’s husband suffered a brain bleed and we almost lost him. I shared a bit of their story and I wanted to do a quick update so that you know that he is alive and slowly recovering.

His recovery is being facilitated by his beautiful wife and today marks their 3rd wedding anniversary. They will spend the day in the hospital, as all the days of the past 6 weeks have been spent there. He is nowhere ready to move or be transported yet…and so he is there in his bed and sometimes in a chair…and she sits. She spends endless hours talking to him, encouraging him, doing small movement exercises with him, cheering him on as he responds to commands and just loving him. It is the essence of true love and is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

My life does not allow me to visit daily but I keep in touch and let her know I am supporting from a distance. Yesterday I got the following message from her:

“I finally got him to smile. It was the most wonderful thing I have ever seen…”

This message made me realize how much we take smiles from our loved ones for granted. We walk on by and maybe smile back, maybe even hold back a smile out of resentment or disdain. I never realized how important a smile was until that message yesterday.

There are so many hours of silence in that hospital room. In 6 weeks time, there are only so many one-sided conversations to be had, but that doesn’t stop her. She plays music for him and reads to him while he wakes up a bit and falls back to sleep.

Many people have sent cards, well-wishes and inspiration and one wall has a small collection that they review on a regular basis. It is one of the things that really stimulates him so I would like to make a simple request. If you are reading this, please take a blank piece of paper and write them a little encouragement and put it in an envelope and send it in the mail to:

Danielle and Scott Hawkins
C/O Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic
521 N. Leroy St.
Fenton, MI 48430

For the cost of a stamp (of course greeting cards are always welcome as well), we can hopefully collectively encourage these smiles and healing moments inside of him.

As I wrote in my Facebook status last week, to most of you, Danielle and Scott are perfect strangers. I promise, promise, promise that if you knew them, you would love them too.

Please send a smile to them, a little encouragement, a little love…and then spend a little more time in your smile mode today and in the future. The great thing about smiles is you will never run out. Spread them around!!! We only get one chance…

THE RULES OF IMPROVISATION

I recently finished a light-hearted book by Tina Fey called “Bossypants”. She is hilarious and her book was a nice break from the “heavy” reading I usually do. Tina really struck me with her section on “The Rules of Improvisation” and as I was reading one evening in the sauna, I thought how applicable these rules are to living an extraordinary life. I wanted to share.

RULE #1: AGREE. SAY “YES!” In improv, when someone starts off on a topic, the next person has to start by agreeing with them. If they say their fingers are a gun, the next person has to agree otherwise the scene is dead in the water. How often do you find yourself saying “no”, whether it be to an invitation, an idea or just finding yourself disagreeing with a concept and shutting everything down?

Just recently, I had an invite to situation that was completely unknown. If I would have tapped into my logical mind, I could have come up with loads of reasons why I shouldn’t go. A friend once said, “I am willing to try just about anything as long as it doesn’t end me in jail, I don’t end up with a permanent scar and it doesn’t hurt my credit score.” I have adopted this within reason and choose to say ‘YES” whenever I can and often find myself experiencing some really incredible things.

RULE #2: Say “YES and…” meaning agree and say “YES” first, but then offer something as a contribution. An example in improv that she uses is, “Man, it is hot in here!!!” “Well what did you expect it would be like inside a dog’s mouth?!?!” and then scene continues.

Get involved in making the plans in life. Get involved in the conversations you are having on a daily basis. What you have to contribute is worthwhile. Sometimes even if you disagree with what is presented, using the word “and” is a great transition to something that may open up the doors for all parties involved. “Yes, and….” feels very different and more inviting than “Yes, but…”

RULE #3: MAKE STATEMENTS. Questions are good in certain scenarios, however when you make bold, confident statements in life, things start shifting. “Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.”

“Everything in life is figureoutable” -Marie Forleo

Start offering options and ideas instead of allowing someone else to always lead the pack towards a solution. I absolutely love hanging out with some of my good friends and having brainstorming sessions. I have my fair share of challenges that come up in everyday life. I will present it to a couple friends and then the conversation is sparked allowing for all kinds of different solutions to surface and life takes a step forward.

RULE #4: THERE ARE NO MISTAKES – ONLY OPPORTUNITIES. In improv, if a scene starts one way but is interpreted another, it is an opportunity to go in a different direction and everyone involved needs to pick up the ball and start running.

Life is the same way. We can plan, forecast and predict what will happen in life, however we have all been thrown a curveball as soon as we think we have something figured out. For me, I do not know one thing that could describe life better than finding myself in “beautiful happy accidents” that have led me down some really great paths in directions I couldn’t have even fathomed. Along the course of my life, I have learned that I better quit pushing and I better start surrendering to the path I am on and letting go of where I think I should be. When I do more of that, life is easier.

The rules of improvisation are 4 very simple rules that, when put together, can lead to a seriously fun life! I want to challenge you to start every morning with a “Yes, and” attitude, contribute to what is happening around you, be part of the solution and trust that there really are no mistakes. Those “beautiful happy accidents” that Tina talks about are where the juice of life is!! Make the best of it…we only get one chance.

CELEBRATE

It was right around this time in 1996, while attending Michigan State University, that I woke up at 2AM and decided I was going to be a chiropractor and went right back to sleep. I never turned back and now we will celebrate because of that.

Fast forward through 6 years of undergraduate school and I finally enter Life University College of Chiropractic. Four intense years later I graduate with my doctorate and find my way back to Fenton.

My original plan was to open my office in Ann Arbor which changed when I realized how difficult parking is in the downtown area. My second plan was to open the Café of LIFE in Birmingham, where my family is originally from and still stands Peabody’s Restaurant.

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I was living in Fenton with my mom and step-dad so I was driving around this area a lot. I always had my eyes open and one day a really cute little place came up for sale that got me thinking of potentially opening my doors here instead.

I brought the idea to my mom and she said “If the names French Laundry and Fenton Hotel can make it as restaurants, a Café of LIFE can make it as a chiropractic office.”

I wasn’t set on Fenton as being my landing place and so my HIGHEST priority when searching for office space was a 1 year lease (most commercial spaces require at least 3 years).

I settled on a space on Trealout Dr. and opened my doors 9 years ago on March 12th…and the rest truly is history.

I had no idea when I moved home that I would still be here 9 years later. I had no idea how much fun I was going to have being a chiropractor. I had no idea how many families I would become part of. I had no idea I would get to serve so many babies and chldren. I had no idea I would enjoy giving back to the community I grew up in so much. I had no idea I would find such amazing support here in this small town. I had no idea I loved Fenton so much.

But I do, and so here I am.

If you are reading this blog post, I am very grateful that our paths have crossed. I am so grateful you have allowed me to be part of your family, your life and your healthcare team. Thank you for spreading the word about chiropractic and about the Café of LIFE. I get choked up when I have a moment to think about how blessed I am to be part of your life. It is my pleasure to be your chiropractor.

I also have to say thank you to my amazing staff. We have seen some faces come and go, and even when they go, they don’t go far. A HUGE THANK YOU to the beautiful Alyssa that is currently manning this ship and keeping us all in line. Also THANK YOU to Teri who is our little engine that just keeps giving and loving and serving after all these years. THANK YOU to Rachael and Kel Leigh as they round out my incredible team. We wouldn’t be the Café of LIFE you all know today without these amazing ladies.

One last THANK YOU to all of you for sending your friends and loved ones our way! We are looking forward to serving all of you for many years to come!

Truly, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for allowing me to serve you.

NOW LET’S EAT CAKE!!! Join us for your adjustments and stay and celebrate with a piece of cake 7:30a-10a & 3p-6p on Wednesday, March 12th!!!