A Day of Reflection: The Day After

Well this has been a rather different day since our world wind days at Methodist. Stephanie and I woke up at 3:30 this morning and left at 3:45 for the airport. Amazingly, there were tons of people at the airport and thanks to my friend Barbara for giving us the heads up on the crowds, we arrived almost 2 hours before Stephanie's flight to Maine. The flight was on time to Newark and thankfully with the short layover, her Portland flight was late getting to the gate. Her luggage made it and all is good with the world. She arrived in Portland only 30 minutes behind schedule which is awesome.

We are extremely proud of Stephanie! Peter and I asked her for a few weeks of her Summer to complete 2 online courses at Lone Star Community College and to plan and participate in a 3 week internship at St. Luke's Hospital in The Woodlands with Dr. Christina Frome MD, an OB/GYN......Stephanie completed the courses with A's in both courses and had the most amazing and memorable time in the OR with Dr. Frome and the other surgeons. So off she goes to spend time with her boyfriend, Ken and his family.....So excited for her....she so deserves it.

Peter went to work this morning and I walked Winnie and ran my mileage and walked with my neighbor and friend, Jeannie. Answered a few emails and reflected on the last couple of months of our new journey Peter is embarking on. I feel like I am in a fog but it was a good weather day to reflection on this time in our new lives now.

Things I know for sure:

1. Dr. Appel wears a different bow tie each day to work.

2. The ALS team that Dr. Appel has put together at the Methodist Neurological Institute are the BEST in the world.

3. Do your homework when assigned.

4. Appreciate every day you have with your spouse, your loved ones, your friends and the people you come in contact with each day because today is a GIFT.

5.Accept the love and willingness for your friends to help you even if you think you can do it on your own.

6. Look for the miracles in your life that have touched you so deep that you have taken them for granted.

7. Make sure you have bathed everyday because you never know when you will have a gold star placed on your forehead.

8. Make memories everyday......

9. Know that God will lead you down the right path and he knows what he is doing so just sit back and enjoy the ride.

10. Love the one you are with forever and ever.

These are by no means the end of my list or in any order according to importance. In any given day, you could mix them up and prioritize the differently and your outcome would still be the same. We hope through this personal ALS blog we have set up that you can feel the love and support we have for each other and will continue down this different path together forever. Peter and I were meant to be together since we were in the rip age of 14 and 17 and with the beautiful "masterpiece" of our daughter, Stephanie we will remain strong and fight till the very end. Thank you so much for joining our team.

Our next set of clinics won't be until October 1, 2010 but we will write in our ALS blog about every week with updates and new findings. So please check it and see what is happening. Thank you again for all our followers and for the ones that haven't signed in but are reading and keeping up with our progress. You know the saying, "it takes a village", that is a true statement.

Love to you all, DeeAnn