Sunshine in the Darkness: TEAM AVERY

First and foremost, on March 18th we put our house up for sale.  Yippee!  Finally, six years of a surgical residency is coming to a close.  Oh, I will miss my girlfriends (and the STL Zoo) terribly.  I have had some wonderful moments here in Kirkwood, even though my husband finds it hysterical to refer to St. Louis as "The Lou," like it is prison...as in "I did 6 years of hard time in The Lou and I'll be set free on June 30th."  

We have great memories of this house, but it's time to move on...

The day after our house went on the market, we flew to Macon for a SECOND time to look for a new home - and this time, we had luck!  So far, so good; the inspections have been done and contract worked out. We are on track to close June 1st, move in on June 8th.  The coolest thing about this house (other than the fact that my kids will no longer share a room, hoo-ray!) is that it is across the street from a girl I used to work with over six years ago at Children's in Birmingham!  Not only are our sons born 1 DAY apart, and not only is she also married to a surgeon and understands the lifestyle...but she and her husband also happen to be the nicest, funniest people you would ever want to meet.  I could not ask for better neighbors!  Needless to say, this makes me even doubly excited about our move. 

These are our new digs:

Immediately upon arriving back in STL, it was time to focus on my next project: the Go! St. Louis Marathon. If you've read my blog you know I've been running; what I haven't told you is that I was also training for my first marathon.  Okay, "training" is a little too strong of a word considering I signed up for the race late February and took two whole weeks off in March while I was dealing with buying a house/selling a house.  I finally freaked out two weeks before D-Day and had my husband take the kids by himself (also during an Open House) to get my longest run in...17 miles on the treadmill.  Once.  Let's just say, I will be a hella more prepared for marathon #2.

The race was on a Sunday morning, and I spent all weekend wondering why on earth I had thought running the full 26.2 was a good idea.  A half I was ready for, but the full?  To make matters worse, my husband insisted on studying the course (I was NOT going to look).  Right before I went to bed that night he couldn't help himself and exclaimed "do you know that basically you are running from downtown to our house and back?!"  Thanks honey!  The morning of I was so nauseous I could barely cram down breakfast. No possible way was I actually going to finish this race.  But then suddenly we were there, and I caught the bug.  It was exciting to run past my cheering husband and kids and have the opportunity to show everyone that I was more than just "Avery and Auden's Mom."

Here I am at the beginning of the race:

I won't bore you with what ran through my mind during those 26.2 miles (although I will say that at Mile 20 it's possible I became delusional.  I tried to text my friend Burbs and then realized it said "yyyyyyyyzzzzddkkkkk."  I also noticed that I was running crooked, like those crazy people you see in the desert who haven't had water for 3 days). I also will never eat Gu again.  But...

I FINISHED!  Even better, I never stopped running!  Okay, I walked the water stations but seriously - I have never felt more proud in my life!   The craziest part was that I ran the marathon in 4 hours and 3 minutes...and was, apparently, 23 minutes away from qualifying for the prestigious Boston Marathon (which is why even though I currently can't walk I will probably try again - I'm competitive like that).  I never, ever thought I'd be able to run 26.2 miles, especially while having two young kids, especially while being married to someone who is never home, and ESPECIALLY after all of the drama of Avery's health issues over the last 2 years.  It made me realize how mentally strong I really am...and how much I can be capable of if I want it enough.  Cliche, right?  Okay, it also made me realize that I am ONE BADASS MOTHER ;-)

While I was driving home from the marathon, I called my mom to tell her how I did.  Of course she asked me, "so, what's next on your Bucket List?"  Well, before nursing school I tried to start getting my pilots license and actually flew a Cessna a couple times (no, I wasn't in the plane by myself).  But now I'm thinking that being a Helicopter Pilot would be a lot more fun.  The biggest obstacle will be my husband, who doesn't want to be left alone raising our tiny hellions and thus tries to block some of my crazier pursuits.

My 60-year old mother's response?  "Well, just tell me when you go jumping out of an airplane, because I want to come with you."  WHAT?!!!