Keeping true to my beliefs of the benefits of gratitude, I have been consistently recognizing what I am grateful for each day. Admittedly, with the stresses right now, sometimes it is hard not to lament at the same time.

Over the last couple of days, I have spent some (not enough) time in the vegetable gardens. We would not have planted such huge gardens if we had known what was coming this spring/summer, but we have them and are doing our best to care for them. Picking cucumbers, basil, lettuce, and summer squash, pulling weeds, picking the first ripe tomatoes reminded me of the wonders of the natural world, and centered me back to myself. The world is full of incredible people, love, natural beauties, bounty, and how thankful I am to take part in it all!

As you know, in May we got the very unexpected news that my husband has ALS. Besides the fear, uncertainty, logistics, the massive learning curve, and the stresses of the parking garages, there were the cold, clinical statements of “There is no cure.”

We immediately started asking questions about other ways to help improve health, such as acupuncture, nutrition, massage, and others. Each time, we were greeted with, “It can’t hurt, but…” The voice would trail off, giving the excruciatingly clear message that those things wouldn’t hurt, but weren’t going to help either, at least in those experts’ minds.

That didn’t sit well with me. We need some way of trying to fight this disease! So, we are fighting. Reasonable, regular exercise? Yes! A high-fate Keto diet based upon the one used to treat other neurological diseases? Yes. Acupuncture? Yes. Meditation? Absolutely. Work on reducing stress? Yes.

We get that there isn’t a traditional Western medicine cure, at least not yet. But there are a lot of other things we can try to improve overall health and work to give us time for a cure to be developed, and improve the overall quality of life.

For our dear friends and family, you see something online or hear of someone who is (or did) beat the odds in terms of longevity with ALS, send us the information! We love hearing ideas and will research them right away. Never think that asking a question or suggesting things will bother us, just like when we love hearing Sam’s name, when people face straight-on with us, it helps. And every scrap of an idea helps us fight!

We love you all, we appreciate you every single day.

Yesterday morning I awoke as early as I normally do during the school year, to make sure I was on time for a meeting. Stepping outside to walk the dog, I was shocked when Fluffy 2, who had been on the run for over a month, joined us for the walk. Strolling across the lawn, she was less than two feet than the dog, talking the whole walk. It was if she was telling us all about her adventures. When we got back to the house, I went inside with the dog, then realized she was still standing by the door. With a handful of cracked corn, I sat on the walkway, hand-feeding her. She ate and ate, talking all the while.

Finally, it struck me. She was waiting for me to walk her back to the coop. Together, we walked to the coop, and I opened the door, and she happily joined her little flock. For weeks and weeks, she has wandered the area, living somewhere unknown. Now she was home.

Why did she leave? Why did she come back? Why did she suddenly decide she wanted back with the others? Joining them, she cooed with happiness, as did the others. She was back!

I will never know why she took off, or why she came back, but I do know that Fluffy 2 deciding to go on an adventure, and return, makes me smile.