Starkey Hill

Yesterday was my 10 months post tx! To celebrate, I walked a 4k trail with Krystal again. We brought our dogs and had an absolute blast!

The view from the summit

The girls - not acting like assholes for once.

This was our second trip on this magnificant trail, and unlike the first go 'round (note final picture, it started to torrential downpour on us. Dogs, humans, 5 bitches completely soaked), this time i took a humungus spill. We're not talking just a small fall, oh no, we're talking an all-out plummet from a standing position to flying over a rock that appeared out of nowhere, to landing in full-on victims pose, apple bits scattered all over the trail, sunglasses askew, shock-and-awe all around kinda fall.

As you can see, I gashed my palm open. When i told my parents the tale of my fall, my dad could only counteract with a "make sure you don't land on your back or chest and hurt your lungs" *eye roll*. Well, it's almost 24 hours later and I'm still wholly in tact, thank you very much. I felt wonderful after doing the largely inclined trail. To just be able to breathe and do it and not get out of breath is wonderful. Yes, I do get out of breath like a normal healthy person does when they walk up steep inclines, but there is a difference from pre and post tx out-of-breathness. Pre-tx, I got out of breath doing everything, and there was a sense of panic and ugency with it. Your lungs can't expand fully and they more or less constrict and you can't inhale to your full ability which makes it worse. Post tx, you can regulate it. Take deep breaths in and calm yourself down. You don't need to stop walking or sit down because you feel like you will die all over the place and kill people out of rage. You're fine, and it's ok.

I've been in a very good mood lately. Not worrying about things, not worrying about a job (obviously i'm looking, but i'm not bummed out), just overall happy which is grand. Last week I made an awesome lasagna, and Sunday I watched Discovery channel all day because that special called "Life" was on. I made beer chili, and while it was completely awesome, it was also completely spicey and i don't think i exaggerate when I claim that it set everyone's asshole's on fire the very next day. Ermmmm i don't know if there is anything else for me to write about? I know a good entry was in order since i've been writing poem crap lately and i know that doesn't offer any real insight as to what yours truely has been up to.

Can't wait for the next trail walk with Krystal! Here's hoping neither of us fall (Krys fell twice during the downpour, I fell like a champ yesterday, and we got rained on the first try, dogs included)

Actually! I must mention this: you know how i always talk about getting signs from Karyn, and Megs, or just signs in general? Well i never thought that I could be a sign for someone else. Yesterday, after my massive spill, we were back on the trail when a woman appeared on the trail headed our way. She saw my dogs and her face lit up. She came up to us and was saying how beautiful they were (to which i proclaimed "when theyre not acting like idiots"), and asked if they were related. I said yes, they're mother and daughter, and she automatically knew which one was the mother (Maddy). She was just so elated to see them and her face lit up as she patted them. Then she looked at me and said, "I used to have 3....havent yet gotten a new one since we put our last one down..." and it was almost as if seeing the girls was a sign for her letting her know that it was ok, that she could move on and get another one or something. Just seeing the girls and patting them made her so happy, it was nice to see. I'm glad that when they're not being spastic that they can offer hope and comfort to other people other than us.

Ok that is all. Here's a pic from our first excursion when we got caught in a torrential downpour. We're soaked!