Welcome back to Wonderland Alice.......

As if I were Alice in Wonderland I was thrown into some strange kind of other world a world I recognized...a world I remember as much as I wanted to forget it. As convinced as I had been just seconds earlier that I had just invented it like a story in a book it was suddenly in front of me. The white rabbit had grown older but he was still carrying his watch yelling "I'm late" I was mouth agape. It seemed as though all time had stopped...as if there was no one else on the planet...I could feel my blood flow in my veins...I could feel my hair growing I could see into the future...I could taste the air...I could hear grass grow...yes Wonderland that's what this was...Wonderland...where I had not been in so many years...I had forgotten how to get there.... indeed it is a wondrously terrifying place.

It happened so fast I had no time to adjust or ease into the idea. I remember seeing the arm...I felt in my heart I knew who's is was....but when reality kicked in and I knew it was her....the breath left my body and all I could say was "Mom" She looked older but she hadn't changed much...later I would think was a blessing as it may imply I will age as gracefully. She told me she wanted to let me know about my grandmother...her mother had died on Tues.

My grandmother's dead. My mother is standing in front of me....I was oblivious to anything going on around me when I blinked however there he was....bigger than life and glaring just as I remembered him. There were here....the enemy had found their way into the utopia I had created for myself and mini-me. Wonderland hadn't changed much in fact...all the characters were the same. I felt suddenly as if I was being watched by everyone....as if the enemy was at the gates and it was time to prepare for an invasion....but a fear crept in...quickly and suddenly...I have gotten soft....I wasn't ready...I didn't have a back up plan...nothing is prepared for...I wasn't ready with my overly confident facade.....I wasn't ready with an escape plan...in the time it takes one to nervously and gently speak five sentences she had told me...of my grandmothers death, that she was with her when she passed, that my aunt was with then as well, that she had known where I lived, and she had spoken to my daughter. It would be hours before I felt myself breath again.

Suddenly I've drank the odd concoction again just as before I was 15yrs old again....I was surviving because nothing actually "lived" there...I was again hit with the same panicked thought I had anytime they were mentioned or thought of....I needed to get out...get my kid and get gone...I needed to get on my toes....I needed to be back on constant alert...after all this time I can still feel the terror, anger, hatred, disgust, disappointment, confusion, hurt and mistrust all over again....how dare I let myself be caught off guard....in a matter of mins they were gone...I was slower in my later years...but when my mind caught up my body went into action...I allowed panic to take over...a quiet unrecognizable to anyone but me panic....I would spend the next few hours looking behind me and finding paralyzing fear strike me when the doorbell rang or someone knocked or my phone rang....My mind was in a storm of chaos...I didn't know which emotion to feel...I didn't know which thought should take priority one...mourning...or shock....after all this time...I am still that little girl....after so many years of false self convinced safety and protection...it all came to an end in an instant...the mirrors were broken and shattered the smoke cleared and the lights were replaced with the warm harsh light of the sun...my make believe world was disemboweled suddenly swarmed by the red queen and her army of cards I was left feeling naked, young and raw.

I have been numb since....my mind is still in chaos and I'm still not breathing right...so today until I put myself back to right I'm afraid a switch has been flicked...the survivor has been awakened the warrior has been called back to action. I don't know what will happen or where it will lead but I do remember these switch's well enough to know they have been turned on. It's as though I'm at a never ending tea party with the Mad Hatter and guests....it's about getting out alive at the end of the party...no matter what condition you come out in....you just try to get out alive.

Even as I type...my mind is so different than what it was....as always I will overcome...I will strike first and I will draw first blood...this foe is not unknown and therefore I have some advantage...I will also rely on an old friend a wise and tricky one....underestimation....I will be underestimated...that will play in my favor...I also have time on my side...I've had lots of time to hone my skills and even perhaps learn a few new ones. So the warrior stirs and prepares for battle again after so many years of rest...be ready....your patience and experience will serve you well. Now back down the rabbit hole...back to...Wonderland.

Saying good bye to 2010

This post has been a long time coming. As much as I love to blog and always have something to say...I have been avoiding this blog post for awhile now. I'm not even gonna get into why I've been avoiding it. On to the actual post!




To say this last year was a whirlwind would be an understatement. I will attempt to start somewhere near the beginning if you look back at other posts some of this may actually be there.

If I remember clearly BigDaddy was laid off in January...for a couple of weeks...then in February the adoption went through and BigDaddy became "DaD" officially. We spent some really wonderful weekends at the lake...in fact we went to the lake for BigDaddy's birthday we had an amazing time.

We had a few more amazing weekends at the lake...needless to say I am truly excited about lake season this year.

-The Family-
I remember an evening at my brother and sisters house...we had just finished dinner and the four of us were sitting in the driveway, because when all the kids are together it's easier to just let them have the house or yard which ever they happen to want at the time! :) I can't repeat the conversation word for word...I just remember it was not like any I had had before...actually that's not true...it was similar to the conversation my Mr. Right and I had before we decided to get married. It was no nonsense, straight to the point, with purpose, and though it may have seemed like just another conversation between friends...it would turn out to be so much more. Almost every really big action in my life was preceded by a poignant conversation...adopting mini me, marrying Mr. Right, choosing a family. What I can tell you about this conversation is that it became apparent that my brother had chosen us to join his "chosen" family. What my brother and sister, I'm sure, still don't know, till they read this anyway, is that I have longed for a strong family unit to call my own for so long the yearning had become a constant never ending thorn that I had simply learned to adjust to.



I just knew the fantasy family I had in my head would never come to be...there was no way...people don't just find other people in the world and decide they want to be family and just adopt each other...things like that just don't happen. Turns out they do....and not just in romance novels. My brother said quite a few things that night...I remember most...my sister didn't say much...but that's her way...she doesn't love as easy or as quickly as my brother...but once she's in...she's in all the way. The whole of the conversation was simple...we have this idea of what family should be...once your in that's it your family "done deal" as my brother would say. There is no half ass or uncertainty involved...when you agree to be part of the family it's like a marriage...it's for a lifetime. In good and bad...in health and sickness...in poor and wealthy times...you are a family.



To some this entire scene may seem like something out of a Steven King novel...something like a cult or club or group. I didn't see it like that. I saw it as the thing I had been wanting in mine, Mr. Right's and mini-me's life for a long time. I could tell the weight of this conversation and seriousness with which my brother explained the idea made it seem to me it was something he had thought on for a while. I could not nor will I ever be able to explain why he chose to have this talk with us....I can only be thankful he did. So Mr. Right and I chose a family...and lucky us it came complete with nephews, nieces, 3sisters and two brothers. Mini-me got aunt's and uncle's and cousin's out of the deal.



The best part about a chosen family...you want to be around them...you want to talk to them...you want them to know what's going on in your life and you want to know whats going on in theirs you want to party with them to celebrate with them to share in their joys and disappointments and you want them to share in yours. Unlike the family one was born with...we don't love and enjoy one another because we have to....we do it because we want to...because when the family is together it feels good...it feels right...it feels like your not alone in the world...it feels like family...like family should. So after this conversation and following conversations we all put our money and arms where our mouths were and inked it to make it official. We are F4L. We are family.




Now then...also this year Mr. Right had more medical attention than he's prolly had his entire life! First it was a nasty bacterial infection in his colon...that was scary...then after that had settled a few months he had emergency appendectomy surgery! Like I said...it's been a whirl wind of a year. He's all better now though...medically anyway...and thank the gods for that...I've had enough of the emotional roller coaster that goes with medical emergencies.





He was not out of town nearly as much this year as he was last. Which was both wonderful and difficult. Wonderful because we had him here, difficult because money was tight this year...I think this was the first time we personally felt the recession. It was also in 2010 that BigDaddy decided he just had to have a Harley. He decided that the biker lifestyle was where and who he wanted to be. Though as of this posting he has yet to get a bike. Both mini-me and I are excited for him to get a bike though.



Mini-me had a pretty exciting year as well. I informed her at the end of last year that we would no longer be doing Girl Scouts. She wasn't thrilled, but she handled it well. Of course in my opinion the highlight of her year would have been in Feb. when the adoption became final. She would probably say getting a puppy for Christmas was the best part. The worst would most certainly be when her other dog Luna was hit by a car and killed. Though it was an accident it was terribly difficult for her to deal with...she did love that dog. However I attempted to make it a learning experience and explained again about life and death. A conversation I'm sure we will have many times in her life. She was allowed to say goodbye and then with her Uncle Cooter and her BigDaddy she buried Luna. Since then she has been wearing Luna's collar around her neck like a necklace. She struggled a bit early in the year with grades, but after some stern lectures and the threat of being taken out of school and home schooled she has come back with a vengeance. It's not been an easy year for her...there have been a lot of things come up this year that she has had to learn to adjust to. Her best friend left school and is now home schooled. She has had to learn to deal with negativity from peers. She had to take up for herself for the first time this year. I can't begin to tell you how proud that made me. I was summoned to the vice Principal's office because a girl had attempted to steal her property she was going to move this girls band instrument to another place in the band room so this girl could not find it when she needed it and therefore would feel as if someone had stolen her property. To say my girl impressed me would be an understatement. I was proud that she didn't get physical...I was proud she had put some thought into her revenge plot...I was proud the punishment fit the crime. I was also proud that when she got caught she didn't lie or pass blame on someone else...she simply took the punishment and went about her day. In my opinion she handled the situation beautifully, though perhaps the vice Principal would disagree with me.



Parties, Parties, Parties! We have done more entertaining this year than we have in our lives!
From New years parties with the kids to birthday parties for adults and kids to birthday parties with out the kids...we celebrated in 2010 like no other year. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed having everyone here for all the wonderful milestones a family sees in a year. It has been amazing to plan and put together a truly wonderful birthday party where everyone has a good time and there is no bullshit or fighting or drama! There is just a wonderful group of people that love to have a great time together. Therefore that is exactly what we do! I know for me anyway 2010's birthday party was the best I've ever had in my life. I can't wait to raise the bar for this years!

The garage was coined the "club house" in 2010 and the house was named in 2010...Turner's Cozy Cottage by the Creek. The club house is where most family meetings and family decisions are made and it's where all the celebratory gatherings happen. Indeed the "Club House" has become a sanctuary of sorts...it's a quiet place to sit for awhile and have a smoke, it can also be the most happening place to be in town. It's been such a blessing for us Turners to have been surrounded the entire year by people we love adore and just plain like so much. For a couple of loners like Mr. Right and I the plethora of family and loved one's this year has been both a welcome and unexpected joy. I do not have words to describe how these people who strangers may take no second glance at have become so important to us. We have called on them more than once for more than a few favors or help circumstances....to date we have never been let down or passed over or made to feel not important enough. I only hope Mr. Right and I have made them feel even just a little bit as special, important, wonderful, and like family as they have us. Again we are F4L...we are a family.



So now we come to me....I think. We all know I've had difficult years in my life...we all know I've lived and seen and felt some shit most people know nothing about. This year was no exception....I personally believe the universe chose to send us our family when it did for the simple reason....that we were going to need them. There was a day in Sept when I got up and proceeded about my day. I began to notice first thing in the morning that I felt sore...my body felt like I had over exerted it some how. As if I had spent about an hr to long on the treadmill. Nothing extraordinarily odd about that...except I hadn't been on a treadmill. I hadn't exercised in a couple of weeks due to just plain busyness and the fact that I had taken on a couple of young boys to watch at home during the day. Which left me no time for my early morning jaunts to the rec center for an hrs worth of work out.
So it did seem strange. This went on getting worse and more frequent for about 6wks. I went to the chiropractor thinking it was just a needed adjustment...I could not have been more wrong. After finally giving in and going to see the dr. I just knew he was gonna tell me I was nuts and it was all in my head...this in fact was my biggest fear. It took about 4 days, then the call came. I was officially diagnosed with a syndrome called Fibromyalgia. I knew so little about it of course I began to research it using the internet immediately. Perhaps not the smartest thing to do. My research succeeded in terrifying me.

"Fibromyalgia is described as inflammation of the fibrous or connective tissue of the body. Widespread muscle pain, fatigue, and multiple tender points characterize these conditions. Fibrositis, fibromyalgia, and fibromyositis are names given to a set of symptoms believed to be caused by the same general problem."

This is the definition of this syndrome as stated by medical dictionary. The symptoms of this syndrome sound like something out of a sci-fi movie.

"People with fibromyalgia are most likely to complain of three primary symptoms: muscle and joint pain, stiffness, and fatigue." "Other common symptoms are tension headaches, difficulty swallowing, recurrent abdominal pain, diarrhea, and numbness or tingling of the extremities.

That doesn't include the side effects of the antidepressant drugs I have been prescribed in an attempt to help.
There is no cure or even a well working treatment for this syndrome...so I have had to learn to deal with a daily dose of pain, soreness, headaches, nausea, dizziness, muscle spasms, muscle numbness, muscle tingling and fatigue. It has literally been a daily struggle to get out of bed and be productive in any manner. Some days I fail this task all together...other days I run and don't allow my conscious mind to stop long enough to realize whats going on....of course this is usually followed by a day of extreme pain due to overexcertion from the day before. It's not safe to say that if I would simply take it easy the pain would maintain at a minimum level. Though a day off...really off...where I don't work, do no cleaning or organizing just sit or lie and move very little is enjoyable for my body, it has proven to be no guarantee for a good day the next day. Doing to much makes it hurt...doing to little makes it hurt...sometimes doing nothing makes it hurt.

In my online research...I have found the comment "I feel so alone, because no one knows how it feels, no one knows how bad it is, how difficult it can be just to stand up let alone walk or work" so many times...it's a very true statement. No one knows. I think for me personally this has been the worst part thus far...I have taken up the phrases Good/bad day...but when it's a really bad day there is no way to tell anyone how bad...and eventually after a couple of weeks of straight bad days with no good days people get tired of hearing me whine about it...hell I get tired of whining about it. My family friends and loved one's will never know how much pain there really is they can never truly understand how scary it is to wake up and not be able to move your muscles because you mind has frozen your body with fear of the impending pain associated with such a simple task. No one will ever know how difficult it can be to simply brush hair, or teeth, or run a vacuum, or wash dishes, or fold laundry. No one will understand that waking up to dizziness and vomiting is has become the norm. It will never make sense to them how I can be in a crowd of people who are having a great time while I'm in my own world of torture where my mind is unable to focus on the conversation, the cigarette in my hand, the camera at the ready, the joke just told, or the open invitation to take a couple of playful jabs at a loved one....no my brain is unable to focus on any of this...instead it is stuck on the pain in my body...the elbow ache...the numbness in my thigh...the intense pain in my neck...the soreness of my back....the all consuming throbbing in my ankle...the uncontrollable blurriness of my vision. I have discovered this is called "Fibro Fog".

The idea that I will be in real excruciating pain for the rest of my life is daunting to say the least. If I was gonna be completely honest I would say it was a terrifying prospect that scares the shit out of me. The kicker is I have always said I don't do pain. I am a wuss I can't handle pain. Ironic isn't it that one of my few non animal or life threatening fears is now a syndrome I have been diagnosed with. I have felt completely alone since I got the call...I have tried harder than anyone can ever know to keep my family's life as it has always been. I have missed 2 days of work in the last 4months since symptoms started. I have not used the pain or other symptoms as an excuse for anything...that's just not my style. I also have not broken down and told any one how bad it is. Unfortunately for me I have not picked up my scrap booking in months...I miss it so bad...however to keep my sanity and our lives as they were before takes so much more effort than it ever has I find I have nothing left over for my much missed stress relieving creative outlet.

I cry when no one's looking.
When possible I choose to have my anxiety attacks when I'm alone.
I smile when my muscles scream out in pain to keep from yelling out and crying.
I have attempted to not ask for help at all or at least very little.
I have become not only the strongest woman I know, but the greatest actress I know as well.
This has been my life in a revolving daily circle for the past 4 1/2 months or so.
It has truly been a new room of hell I had not previously visited.


I believe that pretty much clears up the entire year. It was not the most prosperous year for us, however so much good came out of this year I wouldn't change anything about it for the world. Another years worth of stories, another years worth of pictures, another years worth of memories. No I wouldn't change any of it....I would be to scared to loose something totally wonderful we had gained...and all the wonderful people and things we have gained this year are irreplaceable and priceless. As per my life long motto: I wish to change nothing, with that wish comes the want to change things, if these things changed i would not be who I am or have the life I have. The life I have is too wonderful to carry with it any wish for change.

My life is what I have made of it. No amount of pain or suffering will ever take away the appreciation I have for my life. Though some may see it as small and unimportant, it is mine good bad ugly...it's still mine and I have struggled and sacrificed for every second of it, therefore it is with a genuine smile on my face I say to the universe now...Thank you for all the many overwhelming blessings you saw fit to bestow on us in 2010, and I'm eager and excited to see what new wonderful blessings 2011 has in store!