Please Read My Story…You Won’t Believe How It Ends!!

Newsletter November, 2020

Hello, beautiful people!

It’s been a good long while. I so hope that all is well and wonderful with you and yours!

Holy smokes! I have been so stressed out!

Let me tell you about my last 10 horrible days…

It all started with that terrible hurricane. Our power went out for a couple of days. So it was incessant “operation save the groceries” as the hours ticked on. Of course I had just gone grocery shopping the night before (insert eye roll here). We lost so many groceries! What a waste of money! 

After the storm passed, and the lights finally came on, we saw that not one, but TWO trees had fallen on our house! Right over my little boy’s room! It could have killed him! The tree assessment team told us that there were five other trees that were vulnerable due to water drainage and therefore, in danger of falling on our house during future storms to come. All in all, we had to cut down SEVEN trees in our yard! Arborists are so expensive! The worst.

After the tree debacle, I found out that my dad, who is 76 years old, has COVID-19. He also has asthma. So, it’s basically a death sentence for him, right? This is so scary!

I can’t even help him because of course I can’t go near him. Especially because my husband, Andrew is still taking medicines that leave him immunocompromised.

My husband is undergoing various after cancer treatments and post radiation problems. So, he went in for surgery and was hospitalized for a couple of days. It was an extremely worrisome time because he’d had a major adverse event to the exact same surgery two weeks prior. I had never seen him in that much pain. It was absolutely awful. 

The only night that my husband was gone and I was home alone with the kids, someone tried to break into my house! 

I noticed the dog barking at the garage door, I opened it up, and inside of the garage I saw a man rummaging through my things in my car! It was absolutely terrifying! 

After screaming that I had a weapon (not true) and that my ferocious doberman was going to bite his face off (see “doberman” pic) and that the cops were on the way (sprinkled with what I hoped were intimidating swear words here and there), I called 911 to at least make this last part true. With my heart pounding out of my chest, I told the dispatch person,

“This is The Stress Therapist! And I’m so scared, I’m about to wet my pants!”

When the police came, which was ample time for the intruder to get away, they told me that it was probably just my cat that I saw in the garage (insert eye roll here). They “man-splained” to me, that maybe my “eyes were playing tricks on me” and “It happens all the time.”

As they left, I pondered whether they would have said the same thing to my husband. Doubtful, right? I frowned a bit knowing that my dog, Psyche never barks at my cat, Lollipop and although she can be quite the cliche of a curious one, I have never seen her rummage through or dump over my purse. But, I guess I’m the crazy one, right!? Sheesh.

After I got my husband from the hospital, my mom told me that she too has COVID-19! Although you’d never know it, my mom is 75. I mean, this is a catastrophe!

The next day, my car wouldn’t start because some guy (or Lollipop, depending on how you look at it!) left my car door open. 

When I went to get out of the car to figure out how I would jump it since my husband’s car is electric, I promptly stepped in a huge pile of cat poop. I have to say, that it did indeed seem strategically placed. So, needless to say I took this very personally.

Not to mention this pandemic keeping us all at home and missing out on everything! And what about this political mess!? As a therapist, I’m practically board-certified in a new specialty, “election anxiety!” 

I mean, I didn’t sign up for this! 

What kind of cosmic joke am I living??!!!

“Change the way you think about things 

and the things that you think about, 

begin to change.”

-Dr. Wayne Dyer

Ok. Now, here’s how it all really went down…

Here lately, my life has been quite a whirlwind to say the very least! 

Let me tell you about the last 10 days…

Remember that hurricane? It knocked out power out for a couple of days but we were lucky because some of my neighbors didn’t have power for five days! 

Because of my incredible bargain hunts and smarts, a month or so ago, I bought the biggest cooler ever. So, not only was “operation save the groceries” somewhat of a success for us, I was also able to loan the cooler to a neighbor who had almost a week with no power.

After the storm, we noticed that two trees fell on our house! Right over my son’s room! Boy, was I glad I took him out of there just a few hours before to sleep with me in my room. I think that would’ve been extremely scary. It was amazing that the tree didn’t fall through the roof! What a relief! 

Also, the tree experts told us that they were FIVE other trees that could’ve fallen on our house! So, as sad as it was, they cut them down to keep us safe and sound. Even though it’s been an expensive endeavor, we do have insurance and our neighbor offered to pay some of the cost even though the trees are on our property!

Guess what!? My husband does not have cancer! Now, he has been undergoing a few procedures and treatments to make the rest of his long, beautiful life as comfortable as possible. So, he did have to go in for another surgery. This time, I was true to myself knowing that when he is in surgery, I need a friend nearby and one of my besties, Shannon, came and made me coffee cake and kept me company the whole time. 

In order to avoid any foreseeable problems, they kept him at the hospital for a day or two which was really a huge help to me, because I knew he would be a good hands if anything happened. And nothing did! They were able to prevent him from having the same reaction. And not only that, it seems that although the road has been a long one, we are clearly on the right one because the surgery was considered a huge success!

While my husband was in the hospital, I found someone in my garage rummaging through my things! I was able to call the cops right away and he ran off before taking one thing nor did he get anywhere near the rest of my house or the kids! In fact, because their daddy was in the hospital, I allowed them to watch one show which drowned out the intruder, the cops, my fear, all of it. The kids still have no idea that this even went down! *I am so happy that I was able to spare them of this fearful event. It was truly amazing!

I was very grateful that the police got there quick enough. The cops told me that it was probably just my cat that I saw in my garage rather than a strange man. At first, I felt a little defensive. But then, I saw this as an opportunity to give my brain a different story. 

I mean, wouldn’t it be nice, if it was my cat? What if I could convince myself of this “truth?” How much easier would it be to get passed this??? Could it even be a gift? Maybe I could actually fall asleep that night snuggled in with my kids feeling safe and sound. I decided to go for it. With nothing at all to lose, I really tried to adopt this line of thinking. Just to protect myself a little bit…

Get this, both of my parents have COVID-19! Can you believe it?! I’m so glad they have one another because I can’t even go over there to help them at all. I did send them flowers, which I think they loved. They feel rotten and they have a bad cough but it looks like they’re going to come out of it OK. It turns out that they are going to be one of the lucky ones! They have an excellent attitude and they have their cute little dog to keep their spirits up.

I did have a little bit of car trouble, but I was able to jump it without any trouble and get it over to the shop.

My cat sometimes drives me nuts. She left a huge pile of poo poo right outside my car door so I would surely step in it! Can you believe it?! I mean, come on! 

There has been so much going on but I have to admit that I feel so grounded in knowing that all of us will have our own pandemic story to tell. No one gets a get out of jail free card. We really do all get to do this together. 

It’s hard to be with all these people all the time cooped up at home but sometimes, I’m a little thankful for it. Very soon, my kids will move towards their friends and away from me, it’s the way of the world. Now, we have this time to establish a really close friendship before it all hits the fan as they move toward adolescence. 

I love my clients. I truly do. They are the best. I see it as an honor to learn as much as possible as this crazy world changes so I can be of service in any way possible.

I frankly can’t believe how much there is to be grateful for…

“If how you think about things creates your reality, 

You need to decide…

Who are you going to be?”

-The Stress Therapist

So clearly, there are many ways to think about things…and you truly have a choice. 

I’m certainly not saying I’m perfect or better than anyone else. I’m saying that the first scenario was me a while back and the second is me now. 

Which is better???

Know that this stuff takes practice. Just like it took practice to look at things negatively it takes a little bit of practice to turn it around. 

And then the next thing you know a positive outlook is the normal thing. The silver lining is the automatic thought. And soon, you’re walking around with a new mantra:

“Things have a way of working out perfectly.”

That’s my mantra anyway…it’s in my pocket where ever I go…feel free to pick it up and put it in yours.

Wishing you so much love and light, peace and healing,

*if you happen to know my kids, I appreciate you keeping the garage incident our little secret. Thanks!

P.S. This took a bit of time to get to you. So, these events were a few weeks ago now and my parents are recovered and doing GREAT!!!!

P. P.S. Here’s something funny… it was seriously difficult for me to write that first take at what has happened. It felt so not like me, so not like how I would write or think or talk, that I had to go back and put in negative text rather than just the facts because it was so unnatural for me to have such a bleak outlook. Believe me, this has not always been the case. 

P.P.S. I’m sorry to say as far as my cat goes, I don’t really have a positive outlook scenario to report other than, we’re working on our relationship. 😉