I did it!

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure. ~Oprah Winfrey

Well, I've been saying that I was gonna do this for, well, years now, and I just did it...

Did what, you ask?

I wrote Oprah. I've been seeing the commercials for her episode with all the Olympians, and I just got a bee in my bonnet and shot her (well, her people I guess...) a quick email! Don't you think having a show featuring Paralympians would be a good idea?? I do! Stay posted...

Ok, back to my regularly scheduled studying, with packing breaks scheduled throughout!

Turn your wounds into wisdom. ~Oprah Winfrey

Crunch Time

Oliver keeping me entertained

So, it has been a very busy few days in my neck of the woods! Over the Labor Day weekend, I went down to Auburn for the football game, but also dropped off some (a lot really!) of stuff at the little house. Dad's big truck was packed to the gills, though it just scratched the surface of what there is to move! Whew! I have gotten three estimates from moving companies, so luckily I don't have to pack and move the rest of the stuff myself. The more I do pack myself though, the cheaper the move will be... so I spent today sweating in the attic packing up boxes of Christmas china, clothes, and random junk. A lot of it is still boxed up from our last move... guess we don't need it all, huh?

So the game was hot, and Auburn looked like they always do at the first game, but it was really fun anyway! Dad and I sat in my first ever season ticket seats! We'll miss next week's game, but after that, I'm super excited about going to all the games and hanging out with some new friends there. Our friends Shannon and Brian missed last week, but we'll all be present for the LSU game! War Eagle! It was a late night getting back home, but I kept thinking that that would be the last time (maybe ever!) that I would have to face game-day traffic to get home after a game! :)

Sunday, Ron's little sister Michelle came to Birmingham for a visit. She recently had her 19th birthday, so we went shopping to celebrate, and did pretty well at the Gap Outlet! We went to dinner and then lazed around and watched "The Sound of Music" on TV. I know every single word to every single song on that movie, but it was Michelle's first time to see it. Love love love that movie!

Now it's time to get busy with the packing and last minute trip planning details. Ron leaves tonight for Beijing... I've kinda been in denial! Now that he's gonna be gone, I'm sad that I won't get to just pick up the phone and say hi anytime I want to, or call him to get help on all this house stuff I've had to handle on my own, but... I will get to see him in China at some point next week! Yay! This is the longest we've been apart for a long time... Even last Olympics, I got to go out to Colorado for a visit. Not this time....thanks Obama! Oh well, I've been shockingly busy to not have been working all this time.

I'm planning on blogging throughout the trip as a travel journal of everything we see and do, but also to keep everyone updated on Ron's progress. The athletes have been told that there will be some pretty serious restrictions on their personal blogs... like, they can't post pictures of the venues or Olympic Village, and can't write about their results right away... That seems unreasonable to me, but if it's true, I'll spill all the details here! So stay tuned!

Spring Cleaning?

You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. ~John Wooden

Yes, I know it's not spring.... but in anticipation of the mad dash of moving that's coming up right when we get back from Beijing, I have been "cleaning out" this week (after my morning study session that is...). We have only lived in this house for just over two years... how in the world did so much junk accumulate?? I swore when we moved here from our blue house that I would remain organized and neat, which I didn't do too badly at, but man, where did all this other stuff come from? I do know where the majority of the problem lies... the mailbox! When you sign your life away to medicine, you get a LOT of mail. Most of it is junk that gets ripped up or shredded and then thrown away, but where they get me is with the journals and other educational paraphernalia. When I'm working, I do not have time to read 8 different journals per month!! I feel guilty if I don't keep them though, so I usually flip through them, looking at the pictures, and skimming anything that is fascinating and/or applicable to me, and then the pretty little journals get stacked up on my shelves. This is all well and good, until it is time to move! And this move in particular is heavy on my shoulders since we're moving now just to move again in six months or so. Ugh! Anyway, so farewell little journals... I'm paying by the pound here, and ya'll don't make the cut!

Another thing that isn't making the cut... quite a few clothes that haven't fit now for a few years. Yes, like all delusional women out there, I was hanging on to a closet full of stuff that I can't squeeze into anymore, hoping that one day I would be able to get back in them again. Brutal honesty? Though I will continue to try to slim down to my high school or early college "fightin' weight", those clothes are out of style anyway, and none of them were expensive! They moved to the Preserve from the blue house, but I am not gonna pay for them by the pound again! The maids came (one last time) while I was knee deep amongst clothes in the closet... I ended up giving it all to my favorite little maid! We use a maid service run by a friend of ours, and usually we get the same team come out... a young tiny one, and an older tiny one. They are very sweet and do a fabulous job. I can always tell when a team other than them does our house. Anyway, I was gonna go to Goodwill with all the clothes, but when I saw the little maid, I though she might want to go through the stuff and take some home. Well, she didn't want to go through it...she just wanted it all! Some of it will fit here, but alot of it will be too big...she is TINY!! Anyway, made me feel good, and saves me a trip to Goodwill....

I feel like I'm on Mission:Organization or Clean Sweep! Other than my half of the clothes closet, I have gone through my craft closet, my article file thingy, and the junk drawer in the kitchen. Man, is that all I've done?? I need my mom to come help me! Mom?? I know you're reading this.... :) I still need to do the linen closet, my bathroom vanity, my (other) craft closet upstairs, and the attic. The attic scares me... there's so much stuff up there! A lot of it is Christmas decorations, but there's other stuff too... I may just ignore it! Ron can figure that one out. He told me last night that he was sad. He said that when he left, he didn't really think about that we wouldn't really be living here anymore once we got back from China. I did! That's why I cried all the last night, dum-dum!!

Anyway, time's a wastin'.... I'm gonna go do one more area before calling it quits for today. I'm going to the Auburn game tomorrow (Waaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Eagle!) and dropping some stuff off at the little house...I'm excited to see it again! Until then...

Most of us can easily do two things at once; what's all but impossible is to do one thing at once. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

Gearing Up

Life's problems wouldn't be called "hurdles" if there wasn't a way to get over them. ~Author Unknown

Well, things are getting busy around the Williams' households... yes, all three! Here on Preserve Drive, the cats and I have been starting to try to decide what will be making the move to Auburn, and when. Most everything will be going, but a few select things will be going this weekend, including the little bed from upstairs, some type of night stand, a tupperware full of work shoes, and at least a week's worth of work clothes. Also making the first cut will be a few pots and pans, our old microwave (so glad now that we took it out of our blue house!), towels, a shower curtain, the mini-fridge, and the little TV. Basically, the stuff that I will need for the first few days of living there before the movers bring the rest. When we get back from China, it's gonna be crazy!!

Turning now to the action at the blue house (our old house that kept as a rental)... Despite our attention to at least three sickly trees on the property over the past five years, Hurricane Faye brought down part of another one! This one seemed fine, so we're upset about it! The renters called/emailed Ron, and the info relayed to me was that the back porch of the house was smooshed. Ron asked me to go up there and take some pictures for the insurance claim, so I did... but interestingly enough, the porch is fine! There is half a tree (it split somehow) down in the back yard, but the porch looks like it always has. There had been a power line or phone line or something that came down, but that was fixed by the time I got there the next day. Hmmm. Well, that was all good news, except that it might have been nice to have a new porch paid for by the homeowners insurance. Now we ourselves have to pay to have the rest of that tree taken down. Oh well... it could have been so much worse... the tree could've fallen on the roof of the house, or worse yet, someone could have been hurt. So I'm glad for that, but man, there are not very many trees left on this property! My favorite tree (oh, I don't know what kind it is, but it has beautiful pink blossoms on it in the spring....and it's not a crepe myrtle....), the one that was influential in our buying the house initially, almost got taken out by the garbage truck that first summer. I was so sad. Anyway, that's all for the blue house.

Now for the little house (in Auburn)... not much to report, other than that I've been on the phone all morning trying to get the utilities converted over to my name. It wasn't too bad, but not much fun. Ron usually does all that stuff! For that, I am so grateful!

Speaking of Ron, I've been missing him lately... I had wanted to go visit him in Colorado, but had planned to try to go this week. Yeah, tickets to Denver are pretty expensive this week, with all the Democrats there and all. I should've researched that a little better. Next week, the tickets are cheap, but Ron will be in his final few days of training and trying to get out of there (leaving next Wednesday--oh gosh, that's one week from today!), so it just didn't work out. The upside is that with all that he's been doing on his website, I still get to see him everyday! And of course, I talk to him multiple times a day on the phone. Our phone conversations go a little like this:

Me: Hey! Whatcha doin'?
Ron: Just got off my bike. Going to eat lunch/dinner. What you doing?
Me: Studying.
Ron: What are my Buddies doing?
Me: Sleeping in my lap. Here, talk to them! (Hold phone in cats' ears)
Ron: Hey Buddies... I miss my Buddies! Tell your momma to feed you your wet food!
Cats: Purrrrrrrrrrrr
Ron: Well, gotta go.
Me: Ok, bye. Love you!
Ron: Love you too...Bye.

Yeah, fascinating, right? We have nearly this exact conversation several times a day! The only variable is what meal he's about to eat, or at night, that he's about to go to bed. Gotta love those one minute phone calls!

I've said it before (and I'll probably say it till I'm old and gray), but I am really proud of Ron. He has sacrificed a lot to be able to do this again, and will give it his all in the races. He will be representing himself on September 12th and 13th, as well as me and the rest of our families, his friends, coworkers, our country, and most importantly (yes, I do believe this is more important than representing his country...are you shocked?), he will be representing every person out there with a disability. Ron's disability is so minor in the grand scheme of things, but it goes to show that all challenges can be faced, and that many can be overcome. Whether you have dylexia, mental retardation, autism, blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy, quadriplegia, or just one leg... whether you were born with your challenge, were somehow injured, or developed it as a result of an illness- including cancer- you are not defined by it. The Paralympians figured that out a long time ago, but not everyone has. Not everyone sees a person and not a prosthesis, a wheelchair, or a red-tipped cane, but they should. The Paralympics are a way to continue teaching these truths, especially to our children. I wish wish wish that the Paralympics got more TV coverage here in the US, not because I want Ron to be famous or get the Visa commercial or be on the McDonald's cup (though that would be cool!), but to be an example to all of how to accept what may seem to be unsurmountable challenges and work hard to overcome them. Every single one of these Paralympians (not just mine), deserve to be on that Wheaties box....

Ok, long emotional post done for now... I'll get back to my goal of trying to make sure I'll be board certified come October 27th!

If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. ~Thomas Alva Edison

Shrimp Boil Surprise

The best things in life aren't things. ~Art Buchwald

Earlier last week, my dad had told me to mark my calendar for last Friday night...he was having a shrimp boil! Of course I was excited... I love shrimp, and though I have been getting out more than I thought I would with Ron being away, I still need all the social interaction I can get. My job was to bring bread, so I ventured out to Publix (by way of the Gap Outlet, just one last time!), bought the only three french bread loaves they had, had the nice bakery man slice them up for me using his handy-dandy bread slicing machine, and showed up at Dad's. Neighbors soon started showing up, and to my surprise, they started bringing me presents! Huh? The sweet Evans' who used to live catty-corner to us (who now live a few streets over) gave me a pretty tray tied up with a bow along with a fun bottle opener. Mrs. Evans said it was my graduation gift... How nice! It got better though...she also brought a cake (chocolate buttercream from Edgar's!) with "Congratulations Brooke" on the top! I was super confused when I saw it, but I finally figured out that my dad had planned this whole party not just as a casual shrimp boil for the neighbors, but kind of as a celebration for me finishing residency, and as a good bye party! Don't know if he's celebrating that or not! :) Sweet Mr. and Mrs. Salter brought a card and bottle of New Age wine (that is a good luck present for Ron... they know he loves it!)... and everybody said congrats and goodbye... I was really shocked! I''ll have to get my Dad back for this one! I don't really like this goodbye business, but parties and dinners sure are fun! Thank you Daddy! I love you!

I'm not worried about moving away from my Daddy... since we're moving to Auburn, I think I'll see him more than I even do now!! We both love our Auburn Tigers... he will come and visit me often, I know!


Now that I have a place to live, the fact that we're moving has become more real. I'm excited, but I think I'm still in denial. With studying taking up my days, Olympics taking up my nights, and planning a trip to Beijing taking up all other unclaimed pockets of time, I have barely spent any time at all preparing for this upcoming move. I'm really glad I have had all this time off, but I'm not sure where it has gone! I start work in less than one month, and so much is about to happen in the meantime...

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.
~Dr. Seuss

Team Williams takes the gold!

Just in case ya'll missed us on the NBC's coverage of the Olympics, I have linked our performance. I haven't really been studying all this time...I have actually been training in secret for my Olympic debut... we won the gold! Click the link below to see Team Williams in action...

Our Olympic Debut

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