Lisa's thoughts about Love, Life, Lyme, and Liver disease

Lets begin with the positive.  I am so thankful to have spent a fabulous summer weekend celebrating Brianne and Eddy's wedding.   This is one of the thousands of pictures that captured the love and laughter. Now back to sharing my feelings - It has been three years since Mom has passed and I can honestly say sometimes it feels like yesterday and other times it seems like forever since I heard her laugh, saw her smile, or reached for the phone to call her. They say that the first year is difficult because you have to experience a whole  year of holidays and events without your loved one.   They say I will find my new "normal."  Will someone tell me how it will ever be normal on my birthday when my Mom doesn't call and sing Happy Birthday to me?  How will it be normal on Mother's Day when I don't have a Mom to spoil? I must admit, that I am healing, but then somedays it's like BAM -the sadness just hits me.  I was walking into a grocery store to ...

a I have been wanting to blog for quite a while now.  As I type this, it has been almost 5 years since Heather was first diagnosed with Lyme disease.  Heavy Sigh. I don't know where to begin. Heather is one of the strongest people I know.  Every day she deals with unimaginable pain from her toes up to her knees.  Her best way to describe this pain is to imagine a hot piece or metal being jammed into her feet and shooting up her legs.  Yet, even with this pain, Heather manages to move forward with her life as her body permits. As time has progressed, so have many more issues.  Don't get me wrong - she has days where the pain and fatigue are tolerable - then there are days where she is so fatigued and riddled in pain, that sleeping is her best and only option. The picture in the blog was taken a few weeks ago.  She looks radiant in this picture.  Honestly, if you didn't know better you would think that Heather is healthy.  I wrote a blo...

Grover - 1989 - Obviously Homemade.   When Heather was 7, she wanted to dress up as Grover (from Sesame Street) and I made this furry costume out of bathroom carpet type fur.  Sounds awesome, right?  It never dawned on me to paint her face blue, but we did add a  red clown nose, and red lipstick. She even carried around her Grover stuffed animal. Sadly, NOBODY guessed who she was.  Heather was adorable - the costume, not so much.  But every Halloween it gives us a reason to laugh and smile. Heather is such a trooper for posting this picture.  I mean come on.  We all have those pictures tucked away from our childhood. My Mom did make some of my costumes and they were wonderful.  An even better and funnier memory was my Mom walking us around the neighborhood for trick-or-treat, cigarette in one hand and sometimes a glass of wine in the other.  No judgements made here.  Just a sign of a more simplistic time without cel...

Growing up I used to spend Mother's day with my Mom, Grandmother, and Aunt Ruthie.  Aunt Ruthie never had children but she was like a mother to all of us.  All three of these strong, independent, generous, and loving women made sure that each and every holiday was special - including their Mother's Day.  We would gather and eat a fabulous meal that they prepared - the house was filled with laughter and we simply  enjoyed our time together. They never wanted to go out on Mother's Day - they cherished those special times to nurture us. Staying at home also guaranteed eating at that infamous and fabulous kid's table and running around the house playing hide and seek. Ever since my Mom passed, I  have wondered whether it was selfish of us to let them do all the work on their special day.   The commercialization of Mother's day makes us think that Moms need to be spoiled with flowers, gifts, card, brunches, spa days, etc. Don't get me wrong - I lov...

Me and Mom - 1963 As many of you know, Dad has decided to sell his house and move in with us.  We are thrilled and can't wait to create new memories, enjoy sunny days on the lake, and cozy fires during the winter. I can only imagine how hard it is for Dad to let go of so many cherished possessions, but I know these possessions are just "things."  Dad has 55 years of cherished memories in our home, tucked away in his heart.   The last few months we have spent countless hours going through every inch of the house to determine what he wants to take with him.  It is a daunting task when you have to clear out a 3-story 5 bedroom house to get it ready for "staging."  Mom and Dad have thousands of pictures in photo albums, lots of family Super 8 film movies, 20+ carousels of slides, several bookcases of books......and so much more. Dad has been amazing through this process.  I am forever thankful to Lauren and Heather for taking the lead on this t...