According to all internet searches I’ve performed, no apology is needed, no asking for forgiveness of any kind is necessary. They say I should just dive right back into blogging without offering anything, except a new post …… but that’s not me, and if you have ever followed me and my blog, you know I explain everything to the “nth degree”.
When I look back, I see the last personal post here was May 27 (click HERE). I explained what was happening up to that point – and I really believed I had reached a place where I was getting back on track despite what was happening….. I’ll give you a quick recap:
Jane had once again been diagnosed with cancer. By the beginning of 2019, the diagnosis was endometrial cancer, stage four, with less than two good years to live. Although we told no one, we privately grieved and hoped for the best. We prayed and knew that God performs miracles. In case that wasn’t enough, in March, 2019, the situational stress of living in Cancerville took its toll and I suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage (brain aneurysm), which put me out of commission for several months. I had severe headaches and it took quite a bit of time, but by May of 2019, I walked a local 5k with my BFF, Jan, and believed that it would be the start to my new adventure of running. However, things immediately changed the following week.
On June 4, Jane died. She just couldn’t keep up the fight against the cancer and it won out. Life as I knew it was changed forever. I mourned and I grieved. Then I mourned and I grieved some more. Then I did what I always do – I stepped forward, because I knew I had to do so in order to live. I started with cleaning the house by ridding it of the cancer, the medicine, the medical equipment, the mess. Cleaning had fallen to the wayside when cancer care took a priority. I traveled through each room cleaning drawer by drawer and closet by closet. When I finished traveling through all of the rooms, I decided to renovate the house, and again started room by room, closet by closet, wall by wall, floor by floor.
After two solid months of non-stop daily reflection, prayer, meditation, mourning, healing, cleaning and renovating, I began to feel human again and started to want to live life. I started thinking about where I was going and how things would pan out for me in the future. On August 9, I sat down and wrote out a profile about who I believed I was and where I wanted my future to go moving forward, and I posted it to a dating site. The next day I received a very witty and charming message from someone, and it forced me to smile. I responded immediately. We inbox messaged for a week, and then graduated to Facebook friends. We exchanged cell numbers and began texting.
Behind the scenes, I did my investigation of this woman. Since I had her full name (thanks to Facebook), and having worked for lawyers for over 30 years, I’ve got my ways of finding out who someone is. You can be assured that I exhausted every avenue of investigation known. My searches included county court records, name searches — you name it and I did it. Everything seemed to jive with dates, names, her story seemed believable but almost too much so. Then exactly one week later, we met and I officially became a #smittenkitten.
I’ll spare you the details beyond what I’ve just shared – some things must remain private of course, but at the end of the day here’s my story: Dani and I are now a couple, and are planning our futures together. We both immediately sensed an amazing connection and we both feel God’s direction in bringing us together at this time in our lives. Out of the rubble of the pain of the past, I’ve been given this beautiful new adventure that I can’t wait to live!
In other exciting news, I’ve been invited to return as a 2020 Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Ambassador for another year!! YAYAY!!!
Starting in January, I’ll share my story for coming to Cleveland in May of 2020 for my redemption run! I’m not sure which race I’ll run just yet…. I need to live a little more life to make that decision, but I promise, as always, I’ll keep everyone in the loop so be sure to stay tuned!!!
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