Today is thanksgiving and I am feeling so incredibly grateful this year. Today we drove down to my brother & future sister in law’s apartment in the Ballston Lake area of NY to celebrate the day with them. My Mom and Dad drove down in their car and I drove down separately in mine. I listened to music the whole way and was blissfully happy to be making the trip by myself and feeling so good doing it. This might not seem like a big deal to some people, but today I am reminded of so many Thanksgivings past where things have not been so well.

I’ve spent Thanksgivings freshly out of the hospital recovering from heart surgery, Thanksgivings at friend’s houses in California with my Dad learning how to change my at- home IV out and not being able to eat because my mouth had been wired shut.

I’ve had Thanksgivings where I’ve been recovering from blood clots and some years the day just felt so overwhelming that it was difficult to muster up the strength to go and get showered and dressed let alone celebrate with anyone.

But I always had someone who would make sure I wasn’t alone. My friends and family are amazing that way. I am so thankful to Steve and Roxanne, Frances, Shannon, Kym, Becky and Joe, Cathy and Steve and Amanda and her family for all the years they all made sure I had a place to go and a meal to eat.

This year, I am so thankful that my journey seems to be progressing onward and upward. I’m feeling good, I’m with loved ones, feeling safe, loved and cared for. There is no better feeling in the world than to know there is a place for you to go and people who love you and care about you.

If you are reading this, then know each and every one of you has at least one person out there that cares. I care and you always have a place with me. Everyone have a wonderful holiday and I wish you nothing but GOOD tidings and GREAT food today. Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is a special day. It’s my best buddy Nick’s birthday and it’s also our 1 year anniversary of our friendship. Sometimes people come into our lives for a reason. We don’t always get to know what that reason is, but we know they’re meant to be there.

Nick is someone who was absolutely meant to be not only my friend, but really like my family. See Nick and I actually met when we went out on a date. We hit it off and went on a few more. I enjoyed his company, & he thought I was really nice, actually maybe a little “too nice”, (I bought him a pair of new sheets after knowing him two weeks because he ripped his other pair and you just can’t sleep on ripped sheets!!) At the end of the day, we found ourselves really just enjoying hanging out together.

We decided not to date but to just be “good friends”. It was an awesome decision. The best decision really. He has become one of my most trusted confidants, consigliere, giver of advice, and all around favorite people to hang out with.

Nick is a fellow lover of life but he has had his own trials just as I’ve had mine. 2007 was a big year for him like it was for me, so neither of us think it’s a coincidence that we’ve come in to each other’s lives 10 years later.

We had a conversation not long ago about the concept of “soul circles”. It’s an idea that in each life we live there are certain souls who link together in an almost familial way. Sometimes they are together for the purpose of paying off debts from lifetimes past and sometimes they just stick together because there is such a deep connection there, the souls can’t bear to separate. I have been blessed to find this connection with a few people in my lifetime and I know with utmost certainty that Nick is one of them. He is without a doubt one of the “GOOD ONES”.

#bestiesfortheresties #happybirthdayfriend #fromMeredithtoo

“I’ll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Years Day”

-Taylor Swift

This weekend I have really thought about what it means to “celebrate life”. It’s a phrase I find myself using frequently and with this being the one year anniversary of starting my blog, I thought it might be a “GOOD” subject to delve into further.

I think it’s important to acknowledge that there are many different ways we can “celebrate life” and for different reasons. When the 10 year anniversary of my accident just passed, I celebrated being alive and having the rest of my life ahead of me. I was thankful to have survived and also for the challenges I had been able to overcome in those 10 years of life. So I celebrated those things almost like one would a birthday, with friends, champagne, dinner and laughs.

But “celebrating life” goes beyond just the physical life. This weekend we celebrated the lives of two wonderful women with a memorial concert at “The Crane School of Music”. Dr. Heather Eyerly and Dr. Rebecca Reames were professors at Crane and both passed away in the Spring & Summer of 2017. Both women had prestigious careers in music education and each led different choirs over the years. To paraphrase remarks made by Michael Sitton, The Dean of Music at Crane, who said, the students they touched in their lifetime will now go on to spread the lessons they learned to their students and those students will do the same, helping their legacy ALWAYS live on. THAT is a true way to celebrate a person’s meaningful life if you ask me.

And then there is the other part of “Celebrating Life”. When my good friend from college, who I saw this weekend, courageously beat cancer, we celebrated her strength, her life force and the life that was saved.

To all my friends who have courageously beat cancer or something like it, survived an accident or an attack, are living with an illness of some sort (be it physical, mental or emotional), or have supported someone who has, we celebrate YOUR life!

Another friend of mine finally had the strength to leave a bad marriage that was really unhealthy. After almost 10 years of living in Texas she moved to New York City and is now engaged again to a great guy…and CELEBRATING LIFE!!

To all my expectant and new mom friends out there (you know who you are). There is no bigger life to celebrate than that of a new baby!! I want first dibs on all kisses, cuddles and snuggles!! You are heroes and we celebrate you for it.

Whether it’s a new job you’re pursuing, a move to a new city or house or that new health & wellness plan that you’re giving your all to right now, be sure you’re celebrating your body, your soul and ultimately your life. We all have something wonderful that makes each day worth it. A friend of mine put it best when he recently said “Life is so fragile. Remember the things that matter… the priorities. Don’t take them for granted, and hug your loved ones.” It’s really GOOD advice.

#singitonbim #haveastand

    Today is a good day. Today I celebrate life. If you’ve ever seen the Broadway musical “The Color Purple”, there is a part at the end of the show where the main character, Celie, sings out at the end of her big song, “I’m thankful for each day that I’m given. Both the easy and the hard ones I’m livin’. But most of all, I’m thankful for, lovin’ who I really am. I’m beautiful, yes I’m beautiful and I’m here!!” 
    Today I very much feel that way. Ten years ago today my life was irrevocably changed when I was hit by a drunk driver who was traveling the wrong way down a one way freeway. That set into motion a series of events that would eventually lead me to where I am today. I am a changed woman. A woman whose life was spared. I have been broken, disfigured, humbled, beaten down, and at times stripped of my dignity. But then like a phoenix rising from the ash, I have been artfully reconstructed, repaired, restored, loved and encouraged. I’ve come back stronger than ever and have been given so much and learned so many powerful lessons along the way. Things like forgiveness, compassion, patience and the gift of time. Also not to take a day or a smile for granted. 

   I can’t quite say I am grateful for crossing paths with that man in the early morning hours of November 3rd, 2007, but I am very blessed that my angels were looking out for me that day and for the lessons I learned along the way. 

    For the kindness and incredible care shown to me by my amazing friends and family both in the days immediately following and in the years to come, I am so thankful. You bathed me, housed me, changed my IV’s and told me I would be alright even on my darkest days. I am grateful and I am here. 

   For my body and it’s incredible ability to bounce back from the brink of destruction and to rebuild itself into the true miracle of a shell I always knew was there. I was told shortly afterwards that the impact I withstood was similar to that of a 10 pound bowling ball being dropped on someone’s face standing from 10 feet directly above them. Every bone in my face was broken. All but one of my teeth were affected by the trauma of the accident. What a magnificent vessel the human body is. It can repair itself after just about anything. I am grateful for it. And I’m here. 

    To my doctors and nurses, PA’s and caregivers alike. You are the true heroes of this story. As the sign on my maxillofacial plastic surgeon’s office so accurately stated, he was “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men”, because he sure knew how to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The miracles of modern medicine are truly a wonderful thing. I went from a girl whose close friends didn’t recognize her in the days following the accident to a woman most people I meet now don’t know a thing ever happened to. I am so grateful. And I am here. 

   And for the times that seemed almost too much to bear, the toothless, painful, soul crushing, indignant experiences that made me feel like I wasn’t sure I could get through it. Looking back, I now see that it was all a lesson in patience. And at the end of the day, I am grateful. I am good. I am beautiful. And I’m here.