2015 - My Year of Becoming a Real Adult

Looking back at 2015, it has mostly been filled with good and happy experiences. However, the year began with one of my kittens, Norrie, getting really sick and leaving us without her in this life. That was one of the more difficult things I've had to deal with in my life so far... both her and her brother, Nash, had so quickly become my little fur family. She was so young, and I was not expecting to have to make those kind of decisions so soon. Nash and I were quite sad for a long while, but I still think of her often and her spunky, loving, and cuddly self.

Thankfully I was able to enjoy some traveling with friends over the spring and early summer which helped me move past the grieving. I took a few long weekend trips to the Gulf Coast, Asheville NC, and Chicago. Over the summer I received my passport, and I turned the big 3-0. A few of my really good friends took me on a fun overnight girls trip to Chattanooga (where we went to the Tennessee Aquarium), and then surprised me with a birthday party on our return to Nashville. In June I also decided it was time for Nash to get a new fur buddy, and Rainier joined our little family. It took about a week for Nash to warm up to little Rainier, but they are now fast friends and are always together either snuggling, wrestling, or chasing each other around the house (as they are doing tonight). 

In the autumn, I took my first trip overseas and visited Scotland, England, and Paris. I am extremely thankful that I was finally able to take a trip like this. I've wanted to visit the United Kingdom for about 20 years, and to finally do it was a dream come true. There is nothing like visiting a foreign country to make you aware of how little you really know, and open your eyes to others opinions of Americans. What was surprising to me was that Scotland was my favorite of all the places I visited on my travels, even above England which I've always idealized. It is a beautiful country and its people were overall the most friendly to me. I'd very much like to go back to Scotland and spend a week just in the highlands, seeing more of the mountains and lochs.  

If you are one of my Facebook friends, or follow me at all on social media, you will already know about all these things happening in my life over the last year. What you won't have seen in my photos on Instagram, or my posts on Facebook or Twitter, are the physical 'episodes' I began having during the summer, or the worry and anxiety in my mind about what they were and what they meant as they continued through the autumn. You will not have seen the multiple blood tests or the MRI scans that took hours. You did not see me barely holding myself together at work, after I heard from my doctor what the diagnosis potential was when all those tests were done. At that point I knew very little about the disease that is Multiple Sclerosis, but I knew that the cause is unknown and there is no cure at this time. About a month after my MRI test, I was in the office of a neurologist hearing the official news that I do have MS. 

The last couple months of 2015, I feel like I am being forced to officially become an adult, which I guess is somewhat fitting for the year I turned 30. I feel like I've been on an emotional roller-coaster of sorts lately. Shock, denial, more shock, and more denial. I have many things to consider and serious decisions to make regarding my health and future. No matter what happens in the future, I know I have the best family and friends surrounding me and I'm extremely thankful for that.