October was a rough month for me. I was (and still remain in) in a major fibro disease flare. A state of extreme muscle pain, muscle ache, weakness, and brain fog along with a debilitating dose of extra fatigue that affected just about every aspect of my life. Flares make living and existing with fibro that much harder. At this point, I’ve lived with this chronic illness long enough to cope and exist better when symptoms reach sky high levels and leave me feeling less than stellar. A lot of times this means missing more days of work than I would like, keeping less appointments and subsequently canceling, and spending more time in bed. These moments of rest leave me with little mental or physical energy which isn’t awesome when you happen to run a blog.
Photo credit: The Universe Within
So now that I’ve gotten that PSA out of the way, I wanted to finally get to sharing with you photos from my October Meet and Mingle Luncheon last weekend. As you know, meet and mingle is my way of connecting with the local celiac community and enjoying food, laughs, information and fun with members of the Gluten Free Rochester Facebook support group. Putting on this event was a major exercise in resilience and I almost canceled the whole thing as I felt like I was carrying an elephant on my back. But I soldiered the storm, pushed through the pain and fatigue, and I am so happy I did. It’s amazing how much we can do with a little help from a few friends. Many hands made my work light and because of the generosity and help of the group, I not only made it to the luncheon but I made it through the luncheon. I am so happy I didn’t cancel and even happier for the awesome photos that were taken by Nicole B (one of the members of the group). It is by the grace of God and the support of so many people like her that allow me to continue in all the work that I do. I have fibromyalgia but I refuse to let it own me.
