Many of you know last February my dad passed away. It was, without a doubt, one of the single hardest times in my life.But what you may not have know was that my dad wasn't my biological father. My biological father may have passed away last week, and been the man Gretchen found in the park, or he may be alive and well picking through the trash near Union Station. I don't know.I last had contact with my biological father at the age of 13. He called to talk to me and I handed the phone to my mom, telling him I knew who he was and didn't want to talk to him. He honored my 13 year request. No one has heard from him since. I don't know what happened in the call with him or my mom, and it's not my story to tell in any case.But this part is my story.I have lots of wonderful memories of my dad. I remember the time he hid by the couch and my 4 year old self screamed Daddy at finding him there. I rememmber girl scout meetings he led and long rides in his embarrassingly beat up blue truck to let the dogs run in the dry river bottoms. I remember someone who made me scrambled eggs with cheese, ironed my jeans, and taught me to make his mothers spaghetti sauce. I remember my dad.I ...
Archives for 2011
Going Gluten Free
Today's post is a little less rambling and a lot more informational then my normal style so just a heads up. This post is meant to be a small chronicle of lessons I have learned since going gluten free.As part of my path to being diagnosed with lupus I started eating gluten free. More because I was desperate to feel better and I just kept hearing about gluten-free miracles from my research. I have not been diagnosed with celiac or gluten intolerance formally through a blood test. In order for celiac tests to come back positive you have to have been eating gluten before the test. I had been gluten free for 2 weeks prior so it would not be positive even if I am. I can, for absolutely sure tell you that I am, at the very least, gluten intolerant after the last few months of 'testing' with my body.So, when I first decided to go gluten free, I did a ton of research on both gluten free blogs and forums. There is so much information out there. It is all confusing and conflicting and, at the same time, wonderful to see. Gluten free eating is pretty common place these days and many restaurants and food companies are educated about food allergies.What is gluten?Basically it ...
An Open Letter to a Special Needs Mom
Dear Friend,Close to 4 years ago our friendship started with a desperate message from you for some help, some guidance, some information, something that would tell you all would be OK with your little girl. You know now that I get those messages a lot. But something in yours was different. You reminded me so much of, well, me. I picked up the phone and we began our friendship.Through the years I have given you lots of advice for helping your little girl. And in return, you have become a source of information for me as I began uncharted waters with certain treatments. Some days I am sure I offered too much information and you thought, clearly, I must be crazy but most things I have been pretty on target with.So I hope you will trust my advice now.I know you are scared and I know how you feel. And I know that there are very few people who can truly say that they understand your world. I do. I lived it and continue to. You are SO much like me when I was in your stage.So now I have some advice for YOU. Not for your daughter. This is just for you. So listen up because I wish someone had told me this years ago.In the 3 years of your daughters life you have gained ...
Dougco Voucher Disaster
I'm mad. Hopefully, you will be mad too when you are done with this. Because it is about 500 kids getting caught in a political machine.Over the past 6 months I've been watching the controversy going on over school vouchers in the Douglas County School District here in Colorado. To give you a quick and dirty back story-Dougco, as it is locally referred to, was the first school district in Colorado to approve a voucher system that allows families to take some of the dollars earmarked for their child's public school education and divert it to a school of their choice. The amount boiled down to $4,500 of the roughly $6,000 alotted to each child in Dougco. The parent could take that 'scholarship' and use it to pay for tuition at many area private schools that were approved by the district. The remaining 25% would go towards running the program and potentially offset any school classrooms that had a mass exodus due to the program.500 families were funded for this program. Roughly 575 applied. Out of 60,000 students in Dougco! That tells me a heck of a lot of parents are happy with their kids in Dougco schools. Awesome to see that they are doing such a great job that 59,475 ...
Life’s Little Blessings
To be honest I don't know what I want to write about. I just feel like writing.My world is shifting. In a good way. But I don't really have my footing yet so I am not sure what it will look like when my feet reach the ground.I have found that eating gluten-free is really good for me. It's been about 3 weeks now and I can feel the difference. This past week I went with some friends to meet Robyn O'Brien for lunch. We talked about the rise in food allergies and the link to the unhealthy changes in our food supply. It was eye opening. I find I can't put her book, The Unhealthy Truth, down. I don't want to look but it is a train wreck I can't look away from. As Robyn says, once you learn this stuff, you can't unlearn it.Wednesday Bob and I saw the doctor. It was nice to get a path of treatment and a name for this yucky-ness happening in my body. For many, lupus conjurers up lots of scary things. I think of it as a gift. One that is going to force me to pay better attention to my body, mind and spirit. All things I am not so good at doing. I guess the universe found a way to make me listen up. It does that.Oh what else to say?I had a lovely night at the Brown Palace ...