A happy and "healthy" summer

I'm not a very good blogger. If I can even call myself one, really. I mean, I absolutely love to write. I typically have no problem sharing my thoughts and opinions and putting them out there for the world to read. It doesn't even always take me that long to write a post. I sit down, start typing, and it all just kind of flows out. But usually it's because things aren't going well. Usually, it's because I am hurting and need a place to let the hurt out. I blog not because I really think people need to know what's going on with me, but because I need to write, let it out, and cry.

Things have been great lately and maybe that's why I haven't posted in over three months. But regardless of why I haven't written in a while, I would like to make blogging a more regular habit. For those of you who regularly read my blog, you probably think I am chronically depressed and want to make you that way too. After all, the comment I most often receive about my blog is, "You made me cry." Sorry. So instead of making you cry (hopefully), let me tell you about my awesome summer and update you on all things Stacie.

I've had a fairly healthy few months. I got sick during finals week, as I always do, but most healthy people even get sick then. I had a week to rest and then I began my internship with Richmond Tourism. I am currently in week 8 of my 13 week internship and I am having a blast. but also getting a taste of "the real world" and a "big girl job." I get up at the same time everyday, I go to work, I take a lunch break, and I get home and sometimes wonder where my day has gone. It's interesting how jobs work that way. I spend my days managing social media pages, giving directions and talking with tourists (YES, Richmond has tourists), and laughing at the hilarious ladies I get to work with. My name at the office is Melani, I'm still not entirely sure why.

Aside from my internship, I have managed to make time for 4-H camp, friends, family, and church. I just got back from a fun-filled and slightly stressful week at 4-H camp. I didn't fall this year and only cried once. It really was a fantastic week. Luckily, I had two of my best friends by my side the entire time and I don't think I would have survived without them. They helped in every way possible from letting me sleep just a little longer, to carrying my bags for me, to singing with the kids when my voice just wouldn't work, and even to helping me attach my medical equipment and reminding me to take my medications.

My friends are awesome and I have enjoyed celebrating summer with them. I have had Starbucks dates, craft nights of girl talk and tutu making, party planning, birthday celebrations, and lunch dates. One of my best friends has found herself in Louisville for the summer to complete an internship that I am convinced was created for her. Although I am thrilled for her and this opportunity, I miss her and am counting down until she is back in Richmond. Seven more weeks. 

My best friend and I are spending the summer together, chasing adventures, and making memories. I never thought this summer would prove to be such an exciting and memorable one for us, but I am thankful for each day spent together laughing over inside jokes, Skyping until 2am, eating so. much. food, singing silly songs about a drunken moose, coordinating our calendars and planning out the next few months, and just loving and living this crazy life.

As for my many medical conditions, all is well and stable. My biannual cardiology visit was fine, showing no real change from the previous tests. My EDS is under control with a lot of heating pads, taping, braces, and pain medications. I haven't had an autonomic crisis in awhile and the ones that have started, I have been able to quickly prevent. To treat the PCOS, a condition I may have not mentioned before, I will soon begin a new medication. I am praying for a smooth transition with no strange side affects. Balancing four different conditions and a dozen different medications is tough enough; I don't need added symptoms from one medicine.

I don't know if I have been healthier the last few months due to a lack of stress, a better medical regimen, or just more happiness. Perhaps, all three. Although I can count the number of days in the past few months I have gone without pain, zero, I can also count the days that I have been happy to be alive, all of them. Life is easier to deal with if you have a smile on your face, friends by your side, and a God above taking care of you. I may have to live life sick, but some days, I get to forget.

With some people's company and a right attitude, sometimes, just for a moment, I forget about the pain, the conditions, the drugs, the medical equipment, and the worry. I forget it all and just close my eyes and breathe life in. I sit in the sunshine, I watch kids run around, laughing and talking, I listen to the sound of the birds chirping and cars whirling by, I look at the faces of the ones who love me, and I pray to my God who made me. And in those moments, despite this crazy life, my strange circumstances, and all the things trying to bring me down, I smile and I am just happy.