chiropractor – Page 2 – 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!!

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!!

WHOLEHEARTED

I am living wholehearted.

I am nine weeks post heart surgery. It feels crazy to even be able to say something like that and it has been an incredible shift in my life!

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Wholehearted - Dr Erica Peabody

14 years ago I was diagnosed with what is called a Patent Foramen Ovale, a congenital heart defect that is present in twenty percent of the population. Many go un-diagnosed and often the first sign is stroke. I feel very fortunate to know this info and I also feel really fortunate that I didn’t have to have a serious incident in order to get this information.

Playing sports growing up, there was clearly something wrong but they just lumped it into the group called “exercise induced asthma” and “when you start gasping and wheezing (which was happening all the time on the soccer field especially) take this inhaler.”

The inhaler never worked, never made a difference except just to make me shake…and be more frustrated because I still couldn’t catch my breath. I continued to play sports and excelled regardless.

When I was 12 years old, I started getting migraine headaches. I can remember my very first one as I woke up around 2am one morning and told my parents “It feels like a bowling ball hit me in the side of my head.” At 12, those were the best words that I could come up with to describe that pain. The migraines have happened anywhere between 2-10 per month since then.

I am sure there are some migraine sufferers out there reading this that know the kind of pain I am talking about, debilitating to say the least. I learned through the years just to deal with them and after the first few years, I still had the same level of pain but I never let it stop me. Life, school, tests, finals, patient care…nothing stops just because I have a headache and pushing through all of it has always been the way I handled them…and most other things in my life.

Best Chiropractor - Wholehearted - Dr Erica Peabody — they made me lay on my back for 8 solid hours following my surgery which was the hardest part

Shortness of breath upon exertion and migraine headaches, combined with numbness into my hands (which would come and go since my late teenage years) are the classic symptom group for Patent Foramen Ovale and I tested positive. To top all of these symptoms off, chronic hypoxia (lack of oxygen) was the over-riding theme since the blood would just skip the trip to the lungs altogether. On a scale of 1-5 for the size of the hole, I tested as a 4.

I scheduled to see the cardiologist 14 years ago and was looking forward to having all of these things improve for me through a surgical procedure where they inserted a patch in the heart. His exact words “I make a lot of money doing these patches but we do not have the research of what happens to the current devices 30-40 years down the road and so if you are not suffering every single day, don’t do it.”

I was bummed because I was truly looking forward to a shift for me, but I was going to listen to the expert.

I revisited the idea and the tests and all of the procedures this past fall. When I went back to the same cardiologist he said “We have the BEST devices now and so YES!!! …considering how you test and just how compromised you are, lets do it!”

I know what you are thinking out there, “How compromised is she? She has done all these things with a hole in her heart, long distance running and biking, hot yoga, taught aerobics classes for 10 years, even climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro! How is that possible?”

I am (well was) VERY compromised but was going to do all the things anyway because that is the fabric I am built from. I do my best not to let anything slow me down.

November 21, 2019 I went under the knife. This is the procedure they did.

The cardiologist wanted me to take on Thursday off work to have the procedure done, stay the night, go home Friday and head back into work on Monday the 25th. Unbelievable to me in the moment he had said that but that is exactly what I did, and I probably saw many of you that day!

I didn’t share much about this ahead of time for the simple fact that the words “heart surgery” freak most people out. I wanted to get through it, survive it and then tell the story when I can really share the details.

This post is getting lengthy and so I will leave this info here for now and then I will share more in the next post.

When you take a moment to do the math of chronic hypoxia my entire life and never slowing down, to getting full amount of oxygen moving forward, you can see how great of a thing this is and the how freakin’ incredible the medical profession is to be able to develop a fix like that video I shared. Literally I am now finally living wholehearted.

PUPPY LOVE

I am sure you know, as most of you follow me already on social media, this puppy love is a real thing!

As written in a prior post, getting a puppy wasn’t exactly my idea. In fact, inside of the logistics challenge that is already our life, there isn’t much time or space to give a puppy the proper home.

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan Dr Erica Peabody Puppy Love — **Puppy Hugs**

Would I call myself a “dog person”? Not necessarily although a few years back I had a chocolate lab that brought me so much joy. Life was very different back when I had Choco though, I was traveling a ton and it was quite a juggle to make it all happen as a single mom to a dog.

But life has changed…A LOT!!! I a lot more than anyone can really fathom (I have wanted to write more on this blog lately but when my computer has taken a crap and life has been so crazy, it is hard to keep you all filled in).

How has life changed? Things are beginning to settle a bit and slow down a lot more. Many of you know that I transitioned the office to my Center for Well-Being, affectionately known as “Big Blue” a year ago. Our wedding was in March and we were simultaneously working to blend our lives and fire a builder and finish building my super-delayed home. SERIOUSLY UNIVERSE!!! That much challenge for one gal all at the same time, that is not even funny anymore. In fact, something finally cracked… (more to come on that, stay tuned).

This time in life is about slowing down and looking around at all the amazing things that surround me on a daily basis. This time is about looking back on all the hard work and then looking forward with eyes both on the the laboring that the life ahead requires, but also enjoying the fruits of all the labor up until this point.

This beautiful floofball joined the roster back in August and since then the schedule constraints made it so that he has been with me and by my side most of the days. I thought I wanted life to be a different way, but honestly, when the Universe throws you some life lessons, at least begin by embracing them.

I became a dog mom overnight inside of a time that I had no idea I wanted a dog. And I am not sure that I would want just any dog, this guy has special magic powers.

Inside of the responsibilities of taking good care of a dog, life needs a little more space and time; get up a little earlier, head home between events, check in on him and get super creative with ways that he can fit into it all. He is a charmer, cute as can be, loves snuggles and actually hugs back. He is smart as a whip and so so generous with his energy. He is a Bernedoodle; Bernese Mountain dog with their grace, peacefulness and loyalty and Poodle which is one of the smartest breeds and non shed hair.

When I describe him I always say that he is literally like if one of your favorite stuffed animals came to life and follows you around to brighten your day. It is the GREATEST connection ever and the most perfect companion.

Remember that list from above? The list of the past 2 years and all the chaos? Well one chick isn’t able to always completely hold it together and the level of daily anxiety was (and still ebbs and flows) off the charts! I have done a lot of hard things in my life however I never experienced chronic anxiety like that.

Since Lou, my days are calmer, quieter, more peaceful and more filled with appreciating the little things. Life went from the big grand scale and doing all the things just to keep up with that moving train, to most of my focus on this little 4 legged floofball and what his needs are at any time. It went from big and outside the home, back hunkered down inside this beautiful sanctuary-like sacred space that I intentionally created.

And my level of anxiety went from red-lining most of the time and has reduced by probably, if I had to put a number on it, 70%. It has been an incredible shift. Being a dog mom at this point in my life, in this space and time, having the contrast of experiencing the tornado of the past 2 years, is a shift I did not know was coming…but I am forever grateful.

I have been attacked by 2 dogs in my life, breeds that are not suspect of turning quickly like they did, but I see the world differently now. I see through the eyes of this grand puppy love and, although I have had my own dogs in the past and grew up with them, I really get it now. No, like I REALLY get it now. The love for the little fur balls is something so super special.

THE FIRST YEAR

I cannot believe that we are already through the first year of practice here at the Center For Well-Being, our beautiful BIG BLUE!!!

This will mark my 15th year in private practice but the first year in this location. It has been nothing less than incredible!!! We have, hands down, no exception, the most beautiful office space in the area. I am not saying that just to toot our own horn either. As you look around during your appointments, you will notice it is like being adjusted in a museum. The woodwork is incredible, there is so much to look at. I do my work by hand, and the fact that all of this woodworking was done by hand is just so impressive.

The space that we adjust out of is just absolute perfection for us. We have room to move and breathe and as our reception area packs full, which happens on the regular here, we still have room for everyone and do not feel like they are sitting on top of one another. The greatest thing is being able to have so much room to move as I dance around my tables adjusting all day long.

I am grateful beyond any words that could describe it all. One year later, I look back to where it all began with a big unveiling of our sign out front in the front yard on Monday, September 17th of last year at 9:45 to accept our first patients at 10!

Every single day I feel more and more healing coming from this building, but as we work with her more and more and begin to shine her run-down corners, I can feel her healing as well. She hasn’t had the TLC over the past years that she is so deserving of.

Have you been in here yet? Do you feel the grounding and healing energy like we do?

Over the past 3 months, we have been able to really begin to shine up those run-down corners, hallways and rooms. She was already so beautiful but you need to SEE HER NOW!!!

Dr Erica Peabody - Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - The first year

We have our first tenants moved in and joining their businesses under our roof. It was the intention from the start that instead of saying “The acupuncturist is across town” we can now officially say “The acupuncturist is just down the hallway and to the left.” as Michigan Community Acupuncture has joined us early September.

I have many practitioners that I refer to on a regular basis and now we can ALSO say “An incredible psychotherapist, Lauren Lay, is just up the grand staircase and to the right. She has created a beautiful cozy space to work in.”

What I love the most about all of this is that there are other great people now loving on our building just like we have over the past year, and it is only the beginning. We have a few other things in the works and only 11 more office spaces available up for grabs at this point and we couldn’t be any more excited about this whole thing coming together as my dream is brought to life.

WOW!!! One whole year!!!

Just WOW!!! And if the first year is any indication of where this thing has potential of going, I stand in pure amazement. Swing by and see for yourself! It is time to plan an official OPEN HOUSE!!! Stay tuned….

DOWN DOG

You may think I am about to write of just how wonderful my new puppy is? Not this time but I am sure he will make many appearances on the blog as the time goes. This is about another kind of dog, yoga down dog.

Just a couple weeks ago I had the incredible opportunity to attend Barefoot and Free Yoga Festival at Proud Lake Recreation Area south of Milford. I have been in attendance for all 4 years it has been running and this year I got to attend but also had a chance to present!

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - Down Dog

I am still trying to unravel all the learning and feelings surrounding that weekend and put them into words. It has taken some time to really digest it all but I will do my best.

When one of your passions in life meet and hit a crossroads with another, it is the best feeling! I had been brewing a class in the back of my mind for years and I call it “Yoga as a Prescription: How Asana Heals”. In the back of my mind it worked perfectly, but what happens when the rubber meets the road? Will anyone be interested in this topic? Will anyone join in to listen and participate?

I committed to the festival months ago, and par for the course right now with life, it all got out of control with timing and I ended up putting the final nuts and bolts of the course together all the way up to the moment that I presented.

Barefoot and Free Yoga Festival is a 3 day event starting on Friday and finishing in the evening on Sunday. Each 90 minutes, there are 5-10 classes being offered in everything from yoga (of course) to essential oil classes, herb walks, nature walks, stand-up paddle board yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, human connection classes, dance…and so much more. It is a fabulous venue that offers many locations for these classes to be happening concurrently.

When I found out my time and then the location, I took a LOOOOONG walk out to the yurt I would be teaching inside of. From the center of the festival grounds, it was a 20 minute walk through the woods to get to the location.

Like anything else in life that we do for the first time, I was super doubtful that anyone would want to learn that and then to have the long walk as another obstacle to deter students, I just thought I would be teaching to the inside of an empty yurt.

Sunday morning, following the first class of the morning, I made my way to the location. As I was walking that way, many people were just finishing up with other sessions and were heading back. “Great! Exactly as I suspected. Nobody will be here.” was my thought pattern. HELLO NEGATIVE SELF-TALK!!!

But as I descended on the yurt, 2 people were quick to follow me. I set up my mat and my props in the front of the yurt with space for what I thought would MAYBE be 10 people or so.

Others started to show up. Then more people and I kept shifting around and moving to squeeze more people in. By the time I was to begin my presentation, there were close to 40 people packed mat to mat inside of that little yurt. I won’t share all the details of the class, maybe another blog post, but it went off without a hitch and was SO MUCH FUN!!! It was exactly the class that I had planned for a few years in the back of my mind and it hit just the right ears.

Prior to class starting, I thought to myself “how in the world am I going to be able to fill up 90 minutes?” (again, enter negative self-talk). By the end of 90 minutes, I had only covered about 1/3 of the total content I had prepared and didn’t even get to tap some of the potential for what I have to share. The feedback from the participants was “Next year, can you ask to have 5 hours instead of just 90 minutes?” LOL!!

Being a yogi for going on 23 years, in combination with my private chiropractic practice for 15 years which I use “Yoga as a Prescription” inside of on a daily basis, OF COURSE I have a lot to share and I am beyond happy to give that gift and love and serve the people in any way that I can. ESPECIALLY when I am able to give, love and serve my yoga community that has given so much back to me.

Those of you who attended my class, thank you for showing up!!!

Those of you, students and especially my teachers, who inspire me daily and weekly inside of my round robin of yoga studios that I attend on a weekly basis, THANK YOU!!!

To my patients that are always open to learning a new pose to help with their healing journey and who trust the care of their entire family’s health to me and my team, we have only scratched the surface, thank you, you are all so precious to me. 🙂

To my personal yoga practice and the sweat and tears that get absorbed by my mat over and over and over and over again, I am forever grateful. I am one who really truly looks forward to every class. Another day, another down dog.

SIDE EYE

Mike says to me, in a side eye expression, “I have something to tell you. I got a dog.”

“YOU WHAT?!?!?!”

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - Side Eye — Lou

Let’s go back a bit.

As a married couple, some things you talk about and some things you don’t need to talk about. Getting a dog is one that falls inside of the “things you talk about” category…except for this time apparently.

At first I flipped out and if you know anything about the logistics of our life together, you would easily understand why living between two houses is a challenge for a family without a dog, much less a dog family.

BUT this little guy is like having a real live teddy bear around. He is a Bernidoodle and his name is Lou. He is almost 3 months old and is an absolute lover. They say he will end up around 35 lbs but, hmmmm I am not quite convinced and will wait and see how that goes.

I am not a dog person because I have been lunged at by 3 dogs. I do not have breed preference at all, I am just one that doesn’t necessarily trust that any breed will always stay calm, cool and collected…until I met this guy.

Gentle, peaceful, cuddly, and lazy – are good qualities in a dog in my opinion and Lou is all of them. At 10 weeks he has had a couple days in the office but he does have a lot to learn. Many people love dogs but some people do not and I can respect that. For now, he will remain sleeping at my feet under my desk back in my office when I have him. One day, when he grows up a bit, he will hopefully be wandering around during my office adjusting times that he is with me.

Which I am not exactly sure how much that would be because he has an awesome group of triplets that he is very fond of as well. They will take priority in having him and taking care of him.

I reject the idea of a dog for about 2 hours and 45 minutes until I had an actual change to meet Lou in person. When you have a chance to meet him as well, you will see what I mean and just how special it is to have a real, live teddy bear walking around with a heart of gold and wanting to spread pure puppy-love.

That side eye expression, when Mike gives it to me next time, I will know to just trust and hear him out and that most likely, even if it is a “should be talked about” item inside of our marriage, it may end up being a really good thing anyway.

PS Mike, do not do something like that again. 😉 And Lou, WELCOME TO THIS CRAZY FAMILY!!!!

FULL CIRCLE

On Saturday night, my life came full circle.

I was invited back to my varsity soccer field for the alumni game.

I graduated from Fenton High School and although I was a three sport athlete, my heart was in soccer.

As a freshman, I was pulled up onto the varsity squad and of course back then, that was a really big deal. I got to play with the older and more mature team that, in my naive mind, was really going places. By my senior year, I was team captain.

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - Full Circle — the shoes – and our favorite team socks!

Once I went off to college, I played club soccer at Michigan State University but it was just for fun. Beyond my first year in college, I put my cleats and flats up on the shelf and there they have sat…well technically in a box and moved them all over the country for the past 24 years and pulled them out for Saturday night!!! LOL!!! That is a true story! In fact, the flats that I have saved were Adidas Samba light blue suede and the material has deteriorated so much they are literally falling apart!

Walking hand in hand through the gates of that field with my husband was a wild experience. The field is the same, only has had major upgrades since I played there…as has MY LIFE!!!

The evening was absolutely beautiful and I had SO MUCH FUN! Of course, some of my teammates wrangled me back onto the field and then showed up in regular street clothes and sat the bench. I don’t know how I was swindled like that but in the end, I guess that was probably the only real way to get me back on the field. It was great to catch up with those beautiful ladies and their families after all this time. LADIES!!! NEXT TIME YOU ARE PLAYING!!! Plan accordingly and BRING YOUR CLEATS!!!

As I sat there, drinking a Mead from another friend from back in the day, I couldn’t help but feel that coming-full-circle concept…and WOW what a circle I have come!!!

I have always wondered with how far I went and then how in the world I ended up back in Fenton after all. It feels right though, it definitely feels right to be in Fenton.

And to think that I am the owner of the crazy HUGE blue Victorian home/office space on the corner of the town I grew up in and the community that has helped to shape me into the person I am today, it sometimes feels like the twilight zone.

So let’s talk about the game – I guess I didn’t really put it all together that the word “alumni” includes those that just graduated in May of this year, 2019. “Alumni” is not gender specific although for some reason I had it in my mind that women would appreciate going back to their field as much as I do.

So I end up out on the field with 18 year old exceptional athletes, a few of my own patients, running circles around me!!! LOL!!! Actually I can hold my own alright for not even have kicked a ball for a couple decades because I was always a strategist and conserving my energy while out on the field.

The one thing I didn’t expect was that soccer balls, kicked back into play from the goalie that I assumed just graduated, literally came falling back into play from what seemed like OUTER SPACE!!! My last plays were with women, 20+ years ago, and although we could kick high and far, it was a fraction of that height and distance!!! Try trapping a ball coming down from OUTER SPACE!!!

It was an experience to say the least and I am laughing still from the weekend. I got to touch the ball and participate enough during the game that I felt like I had made some solid contribution. I dribbled and passed but as the team was trying to feed the ball to the “older one” to attempt to score, the sacrifice and reach of a foot out there in a lunge position to attempt a shot on goal, my mind keeps me in a “self preservation” mode and limited. Ultimately, no matter how much fun I could possibly have on Saturday night, I still have to be able to walk on Monday morning when patients arrive back in my office.

WHAT A BLAST!!!! My life doesn’t allow a whole lot of extra time to pursue a recreational indoor league or something like that right now, but my love for soccer is life-long and I am so so glad that it has all come full circle.

AFRAID TO ASK

Some people stare. Some people just catch a glimpse. Some noticeably try not to look. Many are afraid to ask…about my tattoo.

I have a tattoo on the back side of my right forearm. I often forget it is even there because it is out of my visual field. The only times I really see it is in the mirror.

Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Dr Erica Peabody - Afraid to Ask

I got my first one 23 years ago and this is my third. The other ones are not in plain site and are usually covered by clothes and many don’t even know I have them.

This one is different. I had it done in January of this year. Up until now, it has been covered by long sleeves. Now that it is warmer, it is exposed most of the day and due to the location on my arm, I never realized how much I use that hand to rest my chin on while my elbow is on a table.

I thought I would write about it because so many are afraid to ask.

The coordinates read 3.0666 S, 37.3507 E and is the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro which I reached the summit in March, 2017.

When I completed that trek, I unfortunately ended up 6 months in a walking boot due to a severe tendinitis/plantar fascitis. I was asked hundreds and hundreds of times “what happened?” My answer was always “I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and this is the souvenir I never wanted.” Of course that would then lead to further conversation around the trip. As overwhelming as it was to answer the same question hundreds of times, I enjoy the curiosity and sharing my journey…because it really was an epic adventure!

When I get ready in the morning is when I see it. To me, it serves as a continuous reminder. It reminds me that I can do hard things, really hard things. It reminds me that I am brave. It reminds me of the connections with the women I did the trek with and some of the strength of their own stories they shared. It reminds me that I have serious endurance and that I am capable of reaching my goals.

I have done many hard things although nothing was as physically taxing as that. When I got home, everyone asked “what’s the next mountain you will climb?” I do not have another physical mountain to climb, I have no desire to do Everest or anything like that. When I look back over the 2 years since the climb, I realize I have already reached the summit of another couple goals although there is always more ahead. I just thought I would share a little bit so that you are not afraid to ask. AND not just me, ask others of their stories too because maybe their ink represents a story they would like to share. I am adding my short Kilimanjaro vlog to the end of this in case you haven’t had a chance to take a view.

IN THE GENES

The real question these days is “Is it in the genes?”

Let me share a little story with you.

I should have gotten a picture of my new cousin and I together but I guess me “being a chiropractor” is the best I could do for this post. 🙂

In March I get a lengthy text message from my mom. It read something like this: “I wanted to share with you that the family found another cousin. Your cousin, Rayce, called the other day and it appears that after he did ancestry.com, that there is a first cousin that he didn’t know about, and none of us knew about.”

So let me start this story. I come from 2 HUGE Catholic families that were both raised on Foley Rd, maybe 4 miles south of downtown Fenton. It was a wonderful spot to grow up.

My Mom is one of 10 kids and she has 7 step-siblings as well. My Dad is one of 9 kids. One grandma was the matriarch of 93 people when she passed and the other was matriarch of 67 people. These numbers included children, their spouses and ex-spouses, grandchildren, great grands and great greats.

HUGE families.

I have close to 60 first cousins and with both of the families living so close to each other, I actually know them all pretty well. The years have made some separation, naturally, but for the most part, I know them because we were raised together.

So when this conversation started back in March, all of us were a little dumb-founded that it was even happening. It is funny to me because as I share this story, there are more families than we really realize that have a similar story, the world is a pretty cool place.

So this cousin’s name is Scott and he is just over 50 years old. But get this, HE IS A CHIROPRACTOR!!!! We have 4 chiropractors in my family already and to have this guy be out in the world, unbeknownst to us, and be another chiropractor is so freakin’ cool! He has been engaged to a woman for a few years and her son just finished CHIROPRACTIC COLLEGE TOO!!! This makes number 5 and number 6 chiropractors in my family! Actually Dr. Scott would have been number 4 chiropractor and then I would have been 5 and then his son, Austin, makes number 6!!!

Dr Erica Peabody - Best Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - In the Genes

I’m still floored by the entire thing and I also think it is one of the coolest things ever!

Unfortunately, my uncle Jeff, Dr. Scott’s biological father, passed back in December of last year. Fortunately, the entire family was going to be present for Jeff’s memorial service that had been planned for months and now Dr Scott and his family were going to join us for that celebration of life and a family reunion.

So imagine if you were adopted and had no connection or knowing of your biological family, and then you found out about them and then it just so happens the number of people you just found extended over 100 people (there have been a few more additions to the family since my grandmother passed), it would take a certain personality to be able to handle that kind of transition.

The reunion and memorial service were just 3 weeks ago and what a blast! We all have our family “things” and hang-ups around certain scenarios but it was SO MUCH FUN to welcome in yet another family member, his 4 kids and his fiance and her 2 kids and grandchildren.

What a crazy and fun world!!

So it does boil down to the final question which I started with, “Is it in the genes?” This chiropractic thing, it just has to be in the genes.