Holly and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I remember very well that in my childhood I used to read the book Alexander and Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It would make me laugh and understand that some days are going to be bad. For me yesterday was one of those days. It wasn't the worst day I've ever had and I have the coping skills to be able to deal with what happened but it was one of those days that after about 6pm my response was "Seriously?!"

It began on Monday when the building I work in started the tar process for reroofing the building I work in. The fumes began building in my office making me light-headed and gave me a headache. This continued until yesterday so needless to say I had a pretty severe migrane going on yesterday. So I headed in late, but on my way to work my car started to make an interesting noise. So I took it to the mechanic who is in the same complex as us. He came back and told me that he give me about 5 miles until the engine seizes completely and my car is no longer drivable. Fantastic! (I do have insurance money coming my way, and while it is not the best timing I can be at ease with that.) So Cory was awesome and drove down to my work to drive my car home for me and I was driving his truck. Well when we were maybe a mile from my house some guy made a left hand turn when he was supposed to yield. This lead to Cory's first car accident with anyone while he was driving my car. Seriously?!

All in all a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

2009 In Review

2009 was more than eventful for both Cory and I so here is our year in review


January: I was adjusting to being back from cruising life and being away from most of my family again. Cory began his final semester for his undergraduate degree.

February: Cory got the chicken pox and was exiled from almost everywhere except for my house. Cory began growing a beard (mostly because of the chicken pox). I had more testing to figure out what was wrong with my stomach.

March: I began interviewing for a ministry job (that I would not end up getting)

April: My birthday! Began planning on coming to Oregon in July.

May: Cory's Birthday on the day he graduated from Hope! My parents flew in a surprised both of us on his graduation!

June: Cory moved out of his apartment and back home (until we get married). Started a medication for my stomach which has completely helped me feel like a normal person again. Looking in to Grad School. Cory's grandma died.

July: Went to Havasu. Went to Oregon! Cory asked permission to marry me.

August: Cory's grandpa died. Got a Lipoma removed and found 3 more. Had to take a hiatus from counseling until our counselor gets hired somewhere else.

September: Got in to a car accident on the freeway. We began volunteering at a youth group for the Canyon Hills Friends Church. Football begins!

October: Started attending a small group with an amazing group of girls. Watch Oregon beat USC!!!!

November: GOT ENGAGED!!!!!!! My parents came down from Oregon for Thanksgiving (which was when Cory proposed).

December: Wedding planning began. It was my first Christmas away from home. I got the flu after Christmas but with enough time to ruin any New Years Eve Plans. But I toughened up for the next day because we got tickets to the Rose Bowl

PTSD

Some of you know that I was in a car accident on Sept 10th. Someone hit me from behind on the freeway. Worse of all I saw it coming and I could hear him trying to brake knowing that he was still going to hit me (meaning I tensed up) so my best guess was that he was going 30mph. Now if you have known me for long you will know that I am no stranger to car accidents. It just happens around me and I don't know why, according to my memory I have been involved (whether passenger or driver) in at least 10 car accidents. You would think that by now I would be used to being in accidents, but I am not. In fact with each accident I become more and more paranoid and have more and more anxiety and anger with people driving poorly. PTSD for those who don't know is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (you can look it up on wikipedia if you don't know the basics about it). I think I have a mild to moderate case of PTSD. As the days go pass by my most recent accident has brought the following problems with it: anxiety, quick mood changes, lack of concentration, lack of patience and insomnia and this issues are becoming more and more apparent. So I am asking for prayer, that medical problems will resolve and that I will get enough money to help buy a new car to replace my poor battered car. Also if you have a background in psych (sisters I am counting on you) please let me know what I can do to get past these issues. In other words HELP!!!!!!!

Transitions

Cory had I have had what I would call a transition summer. Cory has moved back home, His grandma died, we have gone to Oregon, we have told both of our parents that we are going to get engaged (no I still don't know when it is going to happen), his is working 6 days a week which seriously effect our weekends together and time he needs to rest, his grandpa died last week, I have decided to go to Grad school, we have been discussing major future plans (including where we are going to live, what I am going to get a master's in, jobs etc), not to mention figuring out all of my medical problems, or possibly buying a new car.
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I have started a new medication which from what I can tell is helping a TON! I am so glad to not be in pain. Unfortunately since the lipoma was removed the incision site has been painful, I removed the tape today to find the area very bruised which is most likely the reason for my pain right now. If I do not hear anything by Friday then the doctor told me to assume that the mass they removed was a normal lipoma. There are still two more on my ribs that they probably should remove but it wouldn't be necessary.
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Right now our biggest discussion is about me going to grad school. The problem is that I feel like I am not going to like any job that I'm in. Part of that is that I feel that I am not great at any one thing and I don't feel like I have a real passion to do any one thing. This has made it extremely difficult to find a grad program. I would really like to see if I could do nursing, however I have been trying to get into the classes I need for 3 semesters and every time they are full, which is extremely frustrating. Cory and I have just started talking about me doing a school counseling program with a master's in education or to possibly get my MFT.
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It has seriously been a big transition summer. It has been hard and really good at times. I would like to say a few words about the up coming funeral and how I view Cory's grandparents. September 4th is Cory's grandpa's funeral which is where we will be laying him to rest next to the love of his life. This was a couple that had very hard times and had very good times and by the time I met them Vernie's body was failing her and Rocky's mind was failing him. In spite of this it was evident how much they loved each other. Rocky would sing to Vernie as much as he could remember to do so and they loved to make each other happy even in the little things. This has been a fantastic example of the way you can keep love alive. I have been several marriages fail and marriages go through very tough times but in the end it is the little things that can keep a marriage and a love alive. I feel truly blessed that the man I am in love with had this example. Cory does many of the things Rocky would do for Vernie, one of those things is singing to me and sometimes that even means he makes up songs for me (even when I am sick or just had surgery as my mom can attest to). Cory has been my support and I have been his support and it brings tears to my eyes that he had to lose his grandparents that watched him throughout his childhood. I truly believe that his grandpa died of a broken heart. I do think that we were blessed to visit with each grandparent the Sunday before their passing. Cory got to to spend quality time with two of the people he loves. It does make us both feel better to know that they are together again without limitations of the human mind and body. They will both be dearly missed.

Graduation Recap

I have been waiting to blog until I got the pictures of Cory's Graduation but since I still don't have them I will just update on it. So those of you probably knew this already but Cory graduated on his 23rd birthday! So needless to say I knew that weekend would be busy, I just didn't know how busy. On Friday night we went out with some friends of our to a place call buffalo wild wings and it was very good. But we called it an early night because Cory's Big Day was the next day. So Cory's friend Craig came to pick me up a full half hour earlier than I was expecting him... (BTW Guys don't do that EVER! He was confused on the time though). So we went to the gym to meet Cory's mom (Jane) to find out where we were sitting. Then next to Jane was my mom and Jerry. I immediately left Craig in the dust as I ran to go hug my mom (Craig thought I was going to tackle someone by the way I took off). Then when Brian and Jennifer showed up with Emily it was pretty funny to watch every one's reaction to realizing who was calling Emily's name. So after the shock wore off we sat through graduation and I can't begin to tell you how proud of Cory I am. Afterwards there was a LOT of pictures to be taken since there was at least 23 people there to support him. We then went to the house that the party was at and celebrated with friends and family until about 5 or 6. Then his friends and I took him to downtown Fullerton to celebrate his birthday. Lots of stories from that night that I wont talk about. The next day we went to Seal Beach to have some lunch with my parents. We went on the Pier to Ruby's and Jerry especially got some good time bonding with Emily. It was really great to watch them spend time together. We had to leave because Cory was getting a suit from his uncle and came home with 2 suits.

Honestly I feel like we are just now recovering from everything. He is just now being able to write his Thank You notes. As a side note I have a couple of cards that need to go out, you know who they are going to, I am sorry they are so late but you will get them!

It's Official...

We are coming to Oregon on July 23-27!

I work with special people

I work with men who frustrate me to no end! Apparently asking for communication and accountability is too much for grown men to handle. I honestly think I would with special needs 5 year olds because that is about what I deal with. I know that half of them probably barely finished high school and that they get high most days out of the week but seriously we don't ask for very much from these guys. Show up, do your work, don't loose keys, call in problems, don't show up high or get high on the job, don't take things that aren't yours and do the things that I ask you to do which are in your job description. Really is that too much to ask. I can trust 3 guys (including Cory) do it things if I ask them to do it, and sadly it just got bumped up to 3 it was 2 about a month ago.

I think of my niece who communicates better than these guys and who can share better than these guys. I don't get it. Especially when Cory is the youngest person in the company by almost ten years (except for me) and yet these men can't act like it.

I'm done ranting and raving