family chiropractor – Page 2 – We Only Get One Chance

SERVING OTHERS

The concept of “serving others” lives at the core of my being.

I remember 2 years into private practice at Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic I called my mom and said “So I wake up, eat, go to work, come home and eat lunch, go back to work, exercise, home for dinner and then to bed to get up and do it all over again. Is this all there is?”

I had jobs along the way however being a chiropractor was my first true career and I opened my own practice right out of school. I busted my behind (and still do) to get this thing up and running and 2 years into it I made a realization that this is what I would be spending my years doing and it blew my mind to think that was all there is.

When I say that, I am not ignorant to the fact that many are married with children and running families and doing the same thing, however, our lives are truly filled quite full with time spent at work.

My very next thought was…”THANK GOD I am in a profession serving others.”

Service is my highest heart calling and my life has revolved around that for over 12 years in private practice and a few years beyond that during my internship at school.

It was dinnertime our second day on Mt. Kilimanjaro, we sat down and one of the first comments I heard was “Man, I really wish there was a chiropractor here.”

When I am out and about in my personal life, I do not always offer up front that I am a chiropractor and since it hadn’t some up in conversation yet, not many in that particular crowd knew I was. …well until that very moment anyway.

Day 2 of the trek I still felt yucky, sore, tired and out of it. That is not a place to “serve others” from since my own tank was on empty but it was now sitting in the back of my mind.

I could probably adjust this entire group.

It would do every single person some good in making the trek a success.

It only takes my hands.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHBLWKCPLwU[/youtube]

This thought sat in the back of my mind the following day as we made our way to the next campsite. As we hiked along that next day, or porters would pass us on the trail. As they cruised by us, they all carried about 30 pounds of stuff on top of their heads and I know one carried 30 pounds of my own stuff. This is their job and many had been doing it for years.

From a chiropractor’s eyes, it is so clear to see just how much stress has been placed on their spines and it dawned on me that I should spend any extra energy I have serving them. The 31 women on this trek live good lives and have access to all the care they need at home. This is not to discount their need in that moment but many of our team of porters and guides had never heard of chiropractic and had no concept of what a chiropractic adjustment could do…much less how beneficial it would be to their spines, nervous systems, health and well-being and multiply that by the fact they carry so much weight on their heads on a regular basis.

Our day 3 hike was long and tough. I stopped part way down the trail and adjusted Kelly (my patient/friend that invited me on this trip in the first place) and that led to a couple staff members lining up to get checked. That led to me offering my services to all staff and I opened up a make-shift office outside of the dinner tent, which pretty much just consisted of a chair that the staff could sit in so I could check and adjust their spines.

Many stood back and watched, but some jumped right in with full trust. By serving them, my own energy lifted. This is a usual thing that happens, even at my office here in town. By helping others, I am helped. By helping others to heal, I am healed. By helping others to increase the energy inside their bodies, my energy increases. It is the COOLEST thing about this work I do. Serving others helps me.

It also fills my heart and nothing is more satisfying than what happened the very next day. I was stopped and standing on the side of the trail. One of the guides, that was really reluctant to sit down in my chair the evening before but decided he would in the end, walked up to me and sort of whispered “That ‘thing’ you did to me yesterday, I have been so calm ever since. Do you think you could do that again before you leave?”

Then the following day he stops me as says “That ‘thing’…do you think you could teach me how to do that so I could help my team?”

“Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others.” -Marianne Williamson

There is serious power in those adjustments, every chiropractic adjustment is powerful and I often wish you all could feel what I feel in my hands. Being able to release healing energy inside of the body to allow people to be stronger, healthier and adapt to the internal and external stresses in their lives better, I would argue it is one of the greatest things in life.

Serving others truly is one of the greatest things in life.

I am blessed and lucky to be spending my days waking up, eating, going to work at the Cafe, coming home and eating lunch, going back to work, exercising, then home for dinner and then to bed to get up and do it all over again the next day serving others.

NOTHING

“Nothing” is my answer.

I was at a family party last Saturday night. Of course at this age, everyone wants to know how my dating life is and of course, most also know that I am working on building a house, so they are asking about my house.

I walk in the door and greet my cousin (who is sort of in the same boat as I am in life) and her and I discuss much deeper topics and catch up for a few moments.

The next corner I turn, I run into another cousin and the question is “What’s going on with your dating life?’

I respond, “Nothing.”

“Oh really? Ok. Well then tell me what progress you have made with your house?”

“Nothing” And honestly at this point in time I don’t really feel like talking about it if that is all I am to this person. So I cut that conversation quickly and turn the next corner of the house and run into an aunt, “What’s happening with your dating life? What’s going on with your house?”

“Nothing. Nothing.”

“No really, what is happening?”

“No really, nothing.”

I turn the conversation around on them and ask some questions about life but it was almost like I had sort of put the kibosh on the connection by answering my truth, which is “nothing”.

I turned yet another corner and a family friend started the same conversation with me all over again. And then of course is the ever so cliche comment of “How is someone like you still single?” which I constantly hear from every corner of my life.

“Who knows. Good question.” …and I really mean that.

So here is the deal, people, I am FAR MORE than who I am dating and where I am living! In fact, I believe the contrast on that particular evening was so strong because I spent the entire day leading up to that party at a most incredible and enlightening seminar on “Developmental Neurobiology” and although I couldn’t necessarily convey all of the information I learned that day in that seminar, I could have shared some. I am also working on a full Pediatric Chiropractic Certification which is far above and beyond the normal chiropractic degree and is a 2 year post-graduate program put on by the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association that I am incredibly passionate about.

I also have started taking an intense kettlebell class that is changing my entire physical makeup and spending my time at some of the coolest yoga classes. I also have done a ton of reading and lots of writing, hung out with some great friends and am planning or just went on a trip most of the time.

I also am a pretty awesome Aunt E and I could share lots of stories about my amazing nieces and nephews and the time we have spent together.

But to these people, I am defined by who I date and where I am living. And quite frankly, since NOTHING is going on with either of those, to them, maybe I am nothing. ..and that is ok by me.

Maybe these people, as we all do from time to time, are looking for some juice somewhere in life that they can share out in the world somehow and in someway. I don’t really get it.

So I decided that I would sit down next to an interesting friend of the family and chat about running a ski resort, which is what he does, and I learned a LOT!!! Then I moved on to a couple I haven’t seen in a while but really enjoy to chat about the year just gone by and the year ahead; plans, experiences, travels, fun, laughs, work…all those kinds of things. I have decided that one or two good conversations in an evening like that is worth way more than trying to get around to everyone and stay as the “single homeless girl” (exaggerated description but you get the idea).

In saying all of that, I am also not really all that skilled in small talk to begin with. It is not my strong suit as many of you already know. That is definitely one of my faults but I’m alright with that. I also realize and am so very grateful that I get to live the blessed life that I do, this is not talking negative about any of that.

Someone said to me the other day, “You know, you have a lot of dating experiences that you should share a little bit about sometime…and I thought to myself that maybe I will. Stay tuned for maybe some stories over the next phase of this blog as hopefully my “nothing” will start to transpire into an incredible SOMETHING!!! …or at least that is my hope, on many fronts, but house and relationships in specific. l.

TOMORROW

Tomorrow will come no matter what.

In the meantime, I want to share what I felt walking into the precinct this morning.

It was a feeling of power, anxiety and suspicion all wrapped into one.

Presidential election years feel so different than the other election years. And since they roll around once every 4 years, I have such a stronger appreciation for them than I did just 4 years ago, along with a stronger appreciation for all of life in general.

This morning as I got out of my car, I stood up a little straighter, was a little more mindful and walked a little prouder…because I am an American and I have the right to vote. THAT IS A BIG DEAL!!!!

As I approached the building, a little anxious wave came over me because, although things take a while to actually change, the trajectory of our country is on the line. When anxiousness comes up for me, I realize I am future-projecting stress and I know I need to just bring myself back to the moment and the day, mostly because nobody is actually guaranteed a tomorrow anyway.

When I am standing in line next to the other voters in my precinct (my neighbors essentially), I am a little suspicious about my vote even counting. Of course it counts, however if the very next person votes exactly opposite of me, then it sort of negates the whole thing, doesn’t it? Also I have heard so much about voter intimidation this time around, a concept I haven’t really been aware of before. I am curious if any one of the humans in that building today would do something like that?

So tomorrow is coming no matter what as we all know. Today is a day of division and tomorrow we all move forward together. Every single one of us. Those neighbors with signs in their yards that are directly in opposition to your beliefs, they will still be living next door to you. Those businesses in town that have strong opinions one way or another, will still be the same businesses serving this community tomorrow. The cars with big and small bumper stickers that are directly opposed to your choices today will still be sharing the same roads.

I was in a local business this morning at 8am and there were some, what appeared to be, regulars sitting there chatting it up. One of the presidential candidate’s name was brought up and one guy threatened to throw his scone at the other guy. It was silly and juvenile and precious, and all at the same time being his truth.

We all have our truth. We all have things that we stand for and some beliefs that guide our lives and decisions on a daily basis. We also live and work among those that directly oppose those beliefs. I think that is one of the greatest things about our country is that we can live and work among those that believe different things…and that is allowed.

Tonight will be exciting. Tomorrow we go back to our lives and take the next right step for ourselves to move us along in our own progress. Tomorrow we will encounter those neighbors that have/had those signs up in their yards. Ultimately tomorrow we all wake up together and are here with each other, and it was designed that way for a reason.

Spread some love. Make a new connection. Reach out and help someone. None of us have the right answers, we all have our own answers and the contrast and difference between our answers is what makes this world go round.

Tomorrow we wake up together no matter what today brings. Remember that.

THANKS I ALWAYS DO

Running errands around town almost always lands me in Target and honestly there is no telling who I am going to run into in there considering this small town. The phrase “THANKS I ALWAYS DO!” really impacted my trip around that store today and I want to share a little bit about it.

My Aunt Kathleen lived about a mile from my family growing up. She was always a loud and boisterous energy during any family gathering. She used to invite my cousins and I for regular sleepovers and we always looked forward to that time at Aunt Kathleen’s house. She was a riot!

So today when I was walking into Target I ran into Aunt Kathleen immediately right at the front door. I have never seen her out and about in the community and she is only around town for half the year. Chiropractor Fenton Michigan - Thanks I Always Do

She greeted me in her usual way that always makes me feel cared for and loved. Of course she is not ever shy about sharing how she feels and a simple walking away from Aunt Kathy in the store today warranted “Love you sweetheart”.

You all know how Target shopping goes, well mostly turns into browsing, and Aunt Kathy’s path and mine crossed on a few occasions. While I was within earshot of her, someone would say to her “Have a nice day!” and without one
second hesitation, she would reply “THANKS I ALWAYS DO!” (I am using caps here because earshot of Aunt Kathy is quite a large radius, I am just saying’).

Then in another area of the store I hear “Have a good day!” and Aunt Kathy’s immediate “THANKS I ALWAYS DO!”. And our timing for getting out of the store coincided and we ended up at the registers just a few feet apart from each other. The cashier said “Thanks Ma’am, I hope you have a good day!”. “THANKS I ALWAYS DO!”

It is quite obvious that this is Aunt Kathleen’s genuine energy for each day because there is absolutely no hesitation in that response. It is immediate as it is obviously her tone she has taken over and over and over for years and years. And now as I share this, I am hearing that this has truly been her mantra forever.

And in saying all of that, Aunt Kathy has been dealt some difficult cards in life. In fact, about a year ago she arrived at a party and did not have this level of energy and we were all a bit concerned.

When I was getting in my car with my bag of my items I accumulated while browsing around the store (I am not sure how they do it but go in for one thing and walk out with 3 bags of stuff that you “may” need sometime soon), I realized the profound impact her energy had on that store today. In addition to that, it effected the people in her path and, I’m even more amazed to know she wakes up and walks around with that tone on a regular basis.

Not everyday of our lives are going to be “good” days or “nice” days however that is ultimately a choice we get to make. I have some patients at my office, Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic, that have been coming for years and years. I ask them “How is your day?” Their answer “Not bad.”

Realizing this “Not bad” answer is very different that “Good.” ,,,and very, very different than “Always good.” Even when “bad” things are happening in life, we still wake up on the top side of the grass and that is a GOOD DAY all by itself!!!

Let’s consider what would happen if you expected to have a good day and chose to have a good day. What kind of effect would that have on your family? How would that rub off on the people around you? Now what would happen if that was multiplied by even just five of the seven days this week and multiplied out over the next year? And what if only one friend or family member caught on, liked the idea and started to expect good days too? Multiply that by our community in this little town of Fenton, MI or out to our state, our country, or even out to the world. Think of how many good days we could get out of that and think about the ripple effects out into all of life! That is a big deal.

So the next time someone says “Have a nice day!” to you, maybe you will think back to that morning when you made the decision to have a good day before getting up and out of bed, and you can reply something like “THANKS I ALWAYS DO!” Thank you Aunt Kathleen.

BAREFOOT AND FREE

I had an incredible weekend! It was just about as much fun as one could possibly pack into the minutes of one single weekend and a good portion of it I spent at the Barefoot and Free Yoga Festival.

We live, work and play among some real superheros and it is hard to know who those superheros are until something like this weekend is pulled together through the vision of one woman. Of course, there will always be so many people behind the scenes that do not get enough recognition, however, it takes one person to have the vision to start with…and that person is the one who ultimately takes the initial step forward.

Proud Lake Recreation Area is a super amazing place just south of Milford, Michigan. I had never been there before and although I had signed up for the yoga festival just because of the idea of it…quite frankly I had no idea what I was getting into.

I pulled in, parked my car and took a walk to the festival site. It was an absolutely ideal location allowing for yoga classes to be held in a few different areas on the grounds. There were vendors, big tents that would hold yoga classes, a bunkhouse for those that wanted to stay, areas for tents, food vendors and so much amazing positive energy, it could not have been in a more perfect place!

Us yoga peeps, even though we are supposed to be super flexible (not only in class but in life in general), sometimes get stuck with wanting to only take our “favorite” instructor(s) and become actually quite rigid with our regular yoga routine. For me, my time is precious and I am always wanting to maximize my time spent in any yoga class and so I have my favorites and stick with them.

The great thing about the festival setting is that there are options and you are exposed to some other really

exceptional instructors…and because this festival was so close to home, those instructors are easily accessible to me, well if you consider “easy” to be within about 45 minutes.

When I am at my usual yoga class(es) during the week, I am usually running in there last minute and heading out immediately following closing postures. Life is busy, busy, busy! The flow of this festival and the timing of classes

gave us some real time to spend with these like-minded people. There were a few people I see regularly at class but I actually had some time to ask them about themselves and their lives outside of the studio. We shared time, space, laughter and snacks together. We had time for conversation between sweating our behinds off. We had a few moments to jump in the river together. I have stronger, tighter connections because of the weekend.

And then I should mention what it means to the body and mind to do that much yoga in a condensed timeframe. I took six, 75 minute vinyasa classes in 90-100 degree temperatures. I took an inversion workshop, a slow burn class and attended a lecture. This all happened in a matter of 48 hours starting at 7pm on Friday and finishing Sunday at the same time. That much yoga for me would usually be over a 2 week period and so putting myself into that many different postures, that much intensity, that much breath work, that much laughing and that much dancing, shifts a person at their core. Barefoot and Free has such

divine timing as I am in one of the most stressful weeks of my life in a long time. In the midst of playing a mean hand of “52 Pick-Up” with my life, I find peace. Peace is my center and I am craving more time on my mat like I have never felt before, such a strong draw for that level of intense movement and shifting.

I have shared about my experience over the past day and so many have asked “How do I get involved?” “How did you find out about that?” and “When is the next one?” I can say this for certain, DO NOT MISS next year! It is a simple 30 minutes from my home and if you are around the southeast Michigan area, probably within an hour from yours too…very central location to many.

I seriously had no idea what I was getting into. This is yet another time that I simply said YES and made it happen. Leading into the weekend I was asked, “Are you meeting a bunch of friends there at the festival? Do you know many people going?” No I did not know many people going, but I knew by the time I left, with the nature of yoga and the woods and the connection with Mother Earth, I would have new friends by Sunday. Plus I am not sure I love anything more than being BAREFOOT AND FREE!!!!!

Thank you to that teeny tiny superhero, Beth James, for creating a place for all of us to play…and be barefoot…and FREE!!!

20 YEARS

About 20 years ago, I was clued into this place called Antelope Canyon. I am not sure where I heard about it but it has sat in the back of my mind for that long always thinking and knowing that I would visit someday.

I do not have a bucket list. I do, however, have a LIVING FULLY list. There are a few things on that and visiting Antelope Canyon has been one just waiting for the chance to make it happen

I am lucky enough to have quite a few phenomenal friends in my life, but 3 very special sisters. I grew up with 3 brothers and begged my mom for a sister right from the start. These 3 started as, what so many consider, “soul sisters”. However a couple months ago, as we traveled to a conference together, we decided to drop the word “soul” and just be “sisters”. Two of them are actual blood sisters, but two of us only had experiences growing up with boys and were ecstatic about the idea of having sisters.

We planned a sisters trip to Sedona, Arizona about a month ago. As the weekend approached, one of my sisters likes to have a couple things planned out and so she threw out some ideas over text message…and one of them happened to be Antelope Canyon.

Of course I jumped at that chance and shouted “YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!” as loudly as I could…over text message…and the day trip was planned.

There really is plenty to see in and around Sedona, and traveling 3 hours by car one way was not really necessary, however it was so incredibly worth every minute in the car. I don’t think I could use words to explain this, let’s talk with pictures for a bit…

The canyon hike was down into the earth around 30-100 feet.

It is really just that beautiful!!!

The pictures are amazing and truly don’t even come close to doing it justice. They were taken with a simple iPhone camera, nothing fancy. It is just that beautiful! Of course it appears super peaceful as if nobody is around, however, there are hundreds and hundreds of people going through this canyon in a group hike format with about 20 people per group all day long…but the crowd hardly matters.

Please do yourself a favor and go check it out for yourself!!! I’m serious!

20 years I have had this on my LIVING FULLY list…and I would go back in a second!!!

I’M CONFUSED

A few weeks ago I was at a seminar in Toronto and there was a sign on the bathroom door of the convention center and I thought to myself “I’m confused.”

This is what the sign looked like.

Most of you know that I do not have a TV at home and mostly listen to music and read on my downtime. Because of that, I generally get most of my news from Facebook and all the hype about Target and their bathroom policy had many up in arms.

For a day and a half during the weekend, I walked by this bathroom in search of a “women’s” bathroom and all the while was wondering what it would be like to go into a bathroom that was marked as above.

Would there be urinals in there?

Would guys be required to go to the bathroom inside of a stall?

Will I be walking in on someone or something that I do not want to see?

So I passed by this bathroom option all weekend and pondered it over and over…what is going on behind that door? This is Canada after all and maybe they just do things differently here.

As I watched that particular bathroom door all weekend, I did notice that perfectly normal, and un-traumatized women were walking into and out from that door. Men too!

And then on Sunday afternoon I decided I would take a chance and head through that door.

Once I got to the other side of the door I started laughing. There was a set of stairs that went up with a sign for men’s bathroom and another set of stairs that we down for the women’s bathroom. The women’s bathrooms down that set of stairs had zero lines. The other set of women’s (marked as women only) bathrooms had long lines every single time, as many women’s bathrooms do in this life.

Once I crossed through that door and started laughing, I thought what a great metaphor for life: things are not always what they appear and are usually less scary than we think if we have the courage to cross the threshold.

As a culture, we really need to start paying a little closer attention to the sensationalism that is the news, and even the news on Facebook. We need to be conscious of all the things that slip by our filters and get lodged into our minds and beings. I am not exposed to news a whole lot, however even that whole Target thing, and I am sure that is not the only thing, got planted in my own mind without me even aware of what was happening.

Our subconscious runs most of our days for us without us even paying that close of attention. We need to guard ourselves from a lot of what the media is promoting and learn to originate our own ideas, decision, perceptions and actions.

“I’m confused” may be a theme when moving through the next door that is marked in an unfamiliar way. But I know and trust to drop my guard sooner and venture in just to see what is on the other side. Maybe you will want to try that too!!!

PUMPING GAS

I pulled up to a pump the other day to put gas in my car and it was impossible not to notice the TV that was blaring the news station and telling me about all the stuff going on in the world. It dawned on me that more and more gas pumps are coming equipped with TVs so that you don’t have to just “stand there”, you can catch up on the world events while pumping gas.

It really struck me on that particular morning. Many of you know that I do not have TV at home. I have a TV and I have capability to stream movies through Amazon Prime but that’s it. It is only turned on about once every 2 months to watch a movie, if even that. TV is just not something that I participate with at all. Because of this, I am super sensitive to them when they are on.

So as I am standing there getting the doom and gloom of the world right at the gas pump, I begin to think how did this all come about? How did the demand for TV to be right at the gas pump happen? Someone thought of that idea, invented a TV that could be installed at the gas pump, marketed to the gas stations and the gas stations bought into it.

I am not saying that is a bad thing, its truly BRILLIANT!!!

For some reason as humans, we cannot just stand there and pump gas and think? That makes me nervous. I have quite a few little ones in my life through my family and my practice, Cafe of LIFE Chiropractic, and I am noticing that it is harder and harder for them to be still and not stimulated by technology, TV or something of that nature.

I remember growing up with “I’m bored” coming from my mouth from time to time. However “I’m bored” just was something to say when I didn’t feel like using my imagination and finding/creating something to do.

I am curious if kids are getting much of a chance to develop their imagination anymore. Life is so filled with someone else’s creation, someone else’s imagination, projected on a screen and I am certain this is taking away from developing their own. Imagination is like a muscle and needs to be worked.

We used to take family road trips out west, hours and hours and hours in the car with four kids. We didn’t have movie players and gaming systems, we had the radio and our imagination and maybe some crayons and coloring books. That was it. Now it seems some people drive to the grocery store and need to have movies on in the car. I am, by no means, saying this is wrong because there are many good reasons for this. However, what if we just look out the windows, look around, maybe play “I spy” or something and start to engage the imaginative and observation parts of the mind…especially for the little ones but adults too!

Let’s take a moment and glance back through this past week. I am curious to know if there has been any time set aside to be able to just think. Taking some deliberate time to just think is a way we can asses our direction in life. It is a way to reflect back and see what patterns are happening in life and, if expanded out over the next multiple years in life, where that may take us.

A few years back, when my grandmother was still alive, she would see her grandchildren on their phones constantly and directly ask “When do you kids take any time to just think?’

Many of the new patients coming into the office these days check the box “anxiety” as one of their symptoms. I believe some of this is from the high speed pace of life and filling every single moment of each day with technology. Though I do not have TV, I am equally as guilty as the rest with wanting to fill quiet spaces with technology. I have set deliberate time aside to be “screen-free” and am changing my morning routine to delay my first screen interaction.

I am, in no way, saying anything is good or bad. I am, in no way, nay-saying on kids and TV. What I am asking is maybe we take a closer look at the AMOUNT of time spend in front of a screen. And though it is difficult because the gas pump TVs are SO LOUD, maybe take those 3 minutes to pump your gas to think about your life, your family or your significant other. If you are on a undesirable trajectory in life, I am not sure those 3 minutes pumping gas will give you enough insight to realize it, but awareness is the beginning of anything.

It amazed me how much I learned from pumping gas that day. Just something to think about since we only get one chance!!!

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.

BVI SAILING PICTURE DIARY

In order to have seen many of the pictures of our BVI sailing trip, you would have to have been a friend of mine on Facebook or have come into the Cafe of LIFE. There are quite a few asking about my trip so I wanted to put together a little BVI Sailing Picture Diary for you to take a glance at some of what we did with our 10 days on our sailboat Yacht Emily Morgan.

These are my friends, some really good friends that I have traveled with often. They all live in Denver and are all chiropractors…and have been trying to get me to move out west since I moved home 11 years ago. I met all of them in 2001 within the first week of starting chiropractic college at Life University in Atlanta, GA. I love each of them for what they add to my life, my being and the level of joy and laughter daily, even when we are not together.

These are my feet and this is the front of the boat. The entire trip was absolutely beautiful, as you can tell, and this was such an awesome spot to take it all in.

Christmas morning, we are in the midst of our white elephant gift exchange and I ended up with a selfie-stick which I was totally stoked about!!! My friends, Marco and Scott, and to the right in the picture, is Bones, the owner of the ship, host extraordinaire, comedian, dance instructor, master sailor. We got lucky to be on this boat with him and his wife!!

Later on that day using said “selfie-stick”…

…and then I realized that I hardly needed any friends to take my pictures or be in my pictures because I now had a SELFIE STICK!!!! I am only kidding…that is not really true, we all need our friends.

Then one day Bones took us knee-boarding on the back of the dinghy. It has been since June 24, 1998 since I have been knee-boarding. I remember the date so clearly because I ended up breaking my nose out on Lake Ponemah (a whole different blog post to share that story, maybe). It was super fun to be knee-boarding and of course I can’t help but always try to see what’s still possible on that thing. Here is me doing my best rendition of “Hey Mom!!! Look at me!!!” …only my Mom wasn’t anywhere around. 🙂

Emily Morgan hauls around these paddleboards we could take out anytime we wanted. So much fun although I am not sure I used them all that much. This trip became quite a sedentary trip actually.

But while we were sitting around all day, we would see such BEAUTIFUL rainbows!!! Spectacular rainbows and a few of them each day. I know this picture may not even seem real but this was shot with just an iPhone camera, no zoom. Crazy beautiful place!!!

And while I am at it, enjoy these two beautiful pictures!

Sundown time was some of the coolest lighting of the entire day. I think coupled with the sway of sitting on the boat and about to eat some of the most delicious food, it became our most favorite part of each day.

…it was time for another selfie… 🙂

After the first few days of strictly being only on the boat, we began to crave being on land and would dinghy into shore and get grounded for a few minutes. Sometimes we would find beautiful beaches to hang out on but mostly we just needed to not be moving, swaying and rocking for a few minutes.

I LOVED learning about sail physics and helping with to put sails up and take them down. The greatest part of our trip is our hosts could completely handle the boat themselves and so we could choose how much we wanted to participate in crewing the boat minute by minute. I just loved the raising and lowering of the sails, literally the mechanism that was catching the wind and moving us around these islands…how freakin’ cool is that?!?!?! I am still in awe of how it all works and am excited to find a sailing vessel of some sort this coming summer…maybe windsurfing. Yeah, that sounds about right for me.

This is a picture of my room. These 2 bunk beds that were available to me and I ultimately found that the top one had the best air flow. I do not sleep well when my body is moving (in the car, on a plane and apparently not on a boat either). Aside from a sedentary 10 days, sleeping was the only other downfall of being on the sailboat for me. I am particular about sleep and need certain pillows and support and position and basically the only way to sleep in this bed was to tie up a hammock up to the wall at the head and foot of the bed to keep from rolling out at night as the boat rocks in the waves. This took a while to get used to and then once I was home, it took a while to get use to being in a bed that was not moving. It is interesting to watch the brain try to adapt to all of that!

This is how our days were spent…sitting, sailing and chatting. This particular group of friends are what I consider “growth friends”. We are always presenting ideas, talking things over, offering each other perspective and solving the problems of the world…well our own small worlds if you want to be particular.

Another incredible evening anchored in some beautiful place, rocking in the waves, chatting about the day and prepping to wind down for the night.

New Year’s Eve was spent on the island of Jost Van Dyke at a world famous bar called Foxy’s. It is amazing that among the 3,000 people at this party that I can be dancing around the place and come across a sticker of one of the businesses, Unlimited Offroad, here in Fenton, MI. It amazes me to be thousands of miles away and have evidence of Fenton’s greats right in front of me!!

These guys…the greatest!!!

And these two, Bones and Anna and their beautiful boat Emily Morgan, exceptional is not even the word great enough for them. 24 hours per day for 10 solid days with 6 demanding goofballs in their home…I have no idea how they endure something like that. This is the moment stepping off the boat and parting ways after our 10 days. We were truly like a big happy family with them and we all miss them. You can see in their smiles and in their energy fields, even after 10 FULL DAYS, they have the biggest servants hearts of any people I have seen in a while. Our trip was as amazing as it was due mostly to them. Look them up if ever you are looking to have an exceptional vacation!

So that concludes the BVI sailing picture diary. If think I covered the trip thoroughly as I also strongly believe that pictures tell the best stories. Until next time…I am still “Sailing the Scene, 2016!”