Great Start to the New Year!

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I am back and raring to go...

2008 has been filled with the most incredible highs:

- Runs in amazing places

- Runs with amazing friends

- Tons of Happiness and Good Health

- Welcoming Flyer to our house

- Paul finishing his MBA

- AND Paul Qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman at Ironman Arizona

2008 has also been filled with devastating lows:

- Daisy getting sick

- My sister getting sick

- Us making the very hard decision to put Daisy to peaceful rest

- Seeing the effects of my sister's illness on her and my family

Even with the lows of the year, and the heart break and worry that came with, I also got to see the depth of love that surrounds me and my family. On the day we put Daisy down, a beautiful warm day in December, our incredible vet honored Daisy's love for the outdoors by setting up blankets in the grass under a tree so that she could take her very last breath in my arms outside vs. in an office. My friends, while we were at the vet, covered our home with fresh daisy's and left food in the refridgerator for us. As if that wasn't enough, as days passed the daisy's continued to pour in. It was just magical to feel the love and have the bright daisy's fill the silence of our home. For as much as the sunshine makes me happy, there is just nothing like a fresh daisy, in any and every color, to warm my heart.

And just when you wonder how great people can be, when I went to pick up Daisy's ashes, reopening all the heart-ache, there was another box that came with it. The lady at the front desk said, "oh Dr. Boston must have done this." I wasn't sure what she had done until I got home. She had ordered a stepping stone with Daisy's name and the date of her death and had put her paw prints in it. It has sea glass and daisy's in it. I was and continue to be so speechless for what she did for us...

As I continue to pray and think of my sister's struggle and journey, I can only piece it all together with the web that is family. I feel so very fortunate to have a family that is willing to be there in ways that sometimes seem inhumanly possible, with such silent sacrifice. My parents have shown selflessness to a depth I didn't know could ever exist and an unconditional love in the midst of challenge I hope noone ever has to experience first hand.

I have also had friends who have stood by me during these difficult days in ways I could have never dreamed possible. Whether in their words, prayers, or unwavering guidance. It gave me faith, hope, and oftentimes clarity I might not have had otherwise.

It is so easy to reflect on all of the wonderful things that happen over the course of a year...it's like writing a Christmas letter to strangers telling them just how bright and sunny life has been (I know EVERYONE received at least one of those). But it is the reality of the hard days, the ones that make us stronger, that actually shape the year past and make us better for the new year.

In these past few months, particularly these last two of 2008, I have felt so loved, so supported, and so inspired by selflessness (my family, my friends, my vet, and on and on) that I can only see positive hope for 2009!!

Almost every week for the past two years my friends, our dogs, and I have run at the same track. When my friend found out that we were having to make the final decision for Daisy, she called the school and got permission for us to plant a tree in Daisy's honor. We planted the tree, and I so look forward to watching it grow. It is the most incredible symbol of an amazing life :)

Happy New Year! May you take ALL the good and bad from last year to shape your best year yet!!

mer

Credit for wonderful pics of us with Daisy...Steve Marek of Marek Photography.