Melissa, Oh?

Things I learned while staying with my grandmother at the hospital and rehab center:
= Nurses at the rehab center are not the same as nurses at the hospital. Nurses at a hospital are nice, with good bedside manner. And they come when you push the call button. And they don’t roll their eyes and act [...]

Where I’ve been the past few weeks:
= I spent the week in Athens, Ga., visiting Chris.
= On the way home from Athens, on a Sunday, I got the news that my grandmother was in the hospital.
= I spent the better part of the next week at the hospital. My aunt, Josie, stayed with Mia (my grandmother) [...]

My grandmother is 93 years old and she’s one of the healthiest people I know. She’s always been very active, even mowing her own grass on her 1-acre property up until recently. She spends her days gardening and weeding and generally doing anything she can to be outdoors. Time spent at her house as a [...]

So, better late than never on the Christmas blog post, right? I’ll try not to bore you with all of the details, but I wanted you to see what my grandmother thought of this present I made for her. Instead of telling you, I’ll show you with pictures, all beautifully captured by Jeff:

 
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Also, I had [...]

When I was a child, my aunt Josie had a book made that featured myself and my cousin David. I thought it was so cool, reading about our day of chasing foxes or whatever we were doing in the adventure. A few months ago I thought of that book and then found myself thinking – [...]

So, I’m a little late on the the whole “look back/look ahead” post that comes at the end of the year, but I was too busy celebrating the holidays to take the time to sit down and think about it! So, better late than never, right?
Last year I wrote about some thoughts on 2008, and [...]

When I was a child, going to visit my grandmother, who we all call Mia, I would ask her what we were going to eat for dinner.
“Food,” she would always reply, in a tone that clearly conveyed “Get the hell outta my kitchen” or “Whatever I serve, you will eat.”
Mia has never been much of [...]

How do I put this experience into words? Where do I even begin to describe this moment?
Jeff said I should title this blog post “I beat Superman.” Because I did, in fact, beat Superman at the Thunder Road Marathon on Saturday.

But I know it’s not about who I beat or who beat me. I was [...]

These are good times, my friends. Good times.
As I prepare to run the longest run of my entire life in 3 days, my job this week has been to relax and be stress-free. And you know what I’ve realized? It’s really not that difficult.
There is a lot to be happy about. Whether I’m  going to [...]

So, it’s Tuesday, and I ran 20 miles on Saturday. Why am I just now writing about it? Because I’m just now recovered!
Ok, that’s not really true. I’ve been busy with work and an out-of-town friend visiting also, but I have been on a total runner’s high since that run and I am so stoked [...]