Bring on the needle!
This past weekend I went to CT to celebrate my aunt’s 100th birthday. 100 years old?! Man. About 30 of my aunts, uncles and cousins assembled from all over the country to be there for this auspicious event.
My Aunt Jeannette is one of 11 children, the sister of my maternal grandfather. She was/is my mother’s godmother and is the only one of the 11 children still living. Amazing how alert and self sufficient she is at 100 years old… she lives alone and needs very little help, “except putting on her stockings”, she’ll point out.
I arrived early Saturday afternoon at my cousin Terry’s. I was the last of us to arrive and walked into the hurricane, the frenzy of activity known as my family. 
Terry’s house was filled with our family members, and it was SO LOUD! Very expressive conversations, physical gestures, laugher, children running at top speeds all around, and a table FULL with trays of meatballs, stuffed shells and manicotti. I took a moment to take it all in … and laughed to myself as I shook my head. It is so much easier to understand myself when seeing my family. This Italian group is LOUD, loving, expressive and loves to eat! These people most definitely share my blood.
After hugging and kissing everyone inside, I made my way to the backyard to get tackled by all the kids … and then tried to rally a family football game to rival the Kennedy reunions. Once I get some pics I’ll try to post a couple.
Before the Connecticut weekend I had spent a couple days on the bike, and have been running consistently, too, since then. Since I am signed up for the injection (April 30) anyway I decided I couldn’t make things worse, so I may as way deal with this growing weight problem. While I normally hasten to use the word ‘pain’, the past few days I have bordered on using it to describe the result of my recent indulgence with movement. The pain is so isolated, so specific – I can pinpoint exactly where it hurts on my lower back… with such specificity in location I am so frustrated by how hard it has been to help correct everything.
I have never been one who handles needles well, but I can honestly say I am eager to give this a try next week. It is the one thing I haven’t tried and I’ve got to believe that medication designed to reduce extreme inflammation can only help. ?
God give me the strength to see clearly and be patient.
