Running to Stand Still

Responsibilities.  We all have them, some more than others.  

In the past sixteen months, I have experienced helping my stepmother with her massive stroke to which she has never fully recovered and still can’t use her right arm, starting a graduate program, worrying about my chemical/environmental engineer, Georgia Tech-educated brother who was out of a job for almost two years (the company he worked for folded in the economic downturn) and moving him out to Dallas, Texas when he did get a job with the EPA, taking care of my father through aortic valve replacement redo and gall stone surgeries, having my own biopsy of a lump, and working with my doctor to solve the mystery of why I am suffering from amenorrhea for the past nine months. 

Talk about the phrase "when it rains, it pours!"

As a side note, my doctor says I'm quite the enigma!  LOL  Seriously, though, we're trying to find out if it's stress-related, menopause, or something else entirely.  Believe me, I don't want Door #3 in my life.


In addition to all of these experiences, I continued in my roles as wife, parent of two active, honor roll children who are involved in soccer, choir, and music lessons, and educator of high school alternative students.  Indeed, spare time was quite the luxury.  Forget the metaphorical plate holding all of my responsibilities, I had to upgrade to an industrial-sized platter!  However, I still felt the need to challenge myself by enrolling in the specialist graduate program through Piedmont College.  One thing is for certain, the support I've been given by my husband and my developing spirituality have been nothing short of AmAzInG in helping me survive during these stressful months.

My makeshift "study nook" in our bonus room was my home base
for getting my grad work done these past 16 months.
See my blog post on Stash to Study for more on decorating this space.

Well, as we know, time stops for no one, and I have just three more classes remaining of  my last course to attend of my graduate program and will finish on April 24 and graduate on May 5.  I'm so excited!!  Hopefully, things will start to calm down after that!  It's totally been about taking small steps daily these last sixteen months!