The Pearson Project

Monday, September 7

The many (sometimes grumpy) faces of sweet Baby Ricki!

 

Tuesday, September 8

For the next few weeks, I am going to go get Eva from preschool and take her to daycare. This was her first day and she was so sweet. Our babies are growing up!

 

Wednesday, September 9

I was feeling ambitious tonight and did my toenails. My fingernails are currently white tips with a mint green accent line so I decided to do something that matched on my toes. I like how they turned out. :)

Thursday, September 10

Girl's night out! We planned to meet together before Melanie has her baby. She's scheduled to be induced on October 6 if baby Hallie doesn't come sooner. We thought Zuppas was in order. Candace brought her BFF Farrah with her so we were lucky enough to get to meet her. I needed a girl's night with everything going on. Kenny is not doing well and FINALLY went back to the Phoenix for rehab tonight around 12:30 am. I'm glad he's finally getting help again.

Friday, September 11

So many things happened today. First of all, 9/11 is always a sacred day set apart by the horrific happenings just 14 years ago. I still remember it like it was yesterday so I thought a lot about it today. Second, the gals and I went to the South Towne Expo Center to pick up our race packets. I think this is the first time it got "real" for me! Third, Kenny. The first collage is of Kenny a few months ago and during his 8 months sober between rehab and relapse. How gorgeous is my brother?!? The second set, however, is him on Thursday night (9/10). He's lost approximately 70 lbs and looks like walking death. I am just so glad he's getting help! I don't think his frail little 100 or so pound body could have taken much more.

Saturday, September 12

Race Day! Callie picked all of us up starting at 4:00 this morning. We got to Ft. Union, parked, finally got on an old school bus, and rode to the top of the race route at The Spruces Campground up Big Cottonwood Canyon. By the time we stood in line for porta potties, tied shoes, and ditched our warm clothes in our drop bags, it was time to run. It went fast! I tried to stay with at least one person from our group the whole time. I felt really pretty good about the race until we hit mile 10. I was exhausted, sore, hot, and ready to be done. My body was starting to let me know how it felt about all this running and I started feeling faint and nauseous. I think I maybe should have fueled a little more throughout the race. Anyway, Callie and Jacy stuck with me and walked a mile by my side. They were amazing!! I saw my family on the side and that gave me a burst of energy to finish. I came in at 2 hours 18 minutes. My sweet mother burst into tears when I crossed the finish line. I got teary too and had to ask why we were crying. She said that it was just nice to see me reach a goal that I set so long ago in light of everything they're going through with Kenny. It really was an amazing experience to set a goal I never thought was possible and achieve it...even if I did have to walk a little. 

Around 4:30 in the afternoon, I got one of the worst calls I have ever gotten. It was my dad on the other end of the line telling me that my brother was in the hospital. They suspected organ failure because his blood pressure and heart rate were so low. He was being admitted to St. Mark's Hospital and we needed to be together as a family to go visit him in case this was our last goodbye. I hadn't eaten any real food other than energy beans and 3 chicken nuggets from McDonald's since 5:00 am but I suddenly lost any appetite I had at that moment. We quickly called Dave & Viv to come over with the kids and got in the car to head to my parents. I had wet hair and no makeup as I had just gotten out of the shower. We gathered together (Mom, Dad, Muffett's, & McCullough's), said a family prayer on our knees in a circle on my parent's floor, and headed out. Oh, I can't describe the awful scene that awaited us at the hospital. I will never in my life be able to sear the memory of my brother lying there, miserable, thrashing around from pain, and moaning from my mind. His body was detoxing from the horrible substances he's so thoughtlessly introduced to it over the past month or so. He had just barely been diagnosed with pancreatitis, which is excruciatingly painful and usually onset by drug/alcohol use. He can't be given enough pain meds to make the pain subside because his body has built too much tolerance to such drugs and they no longer have an affect on him. Imagine your worst nightmare. That was this experience. I have been on the extreme ends of my mental spectrum today. Joy for having completed my goal, accomplished such a hard thing, and built friendships that are irreplaceable in the process to horrible misery, grief, and pain over the near-loss of my only brother. No wonder I need running. I have to deal with all of this somehow.

 

Sunday, September 13

Happy Grandparent's Day!

I am so thankful for all of the grandparents in my life. My own grandparents helped raise me and shape me as a child. I have so many fond memories of all four of my grandparents. I also remember very well Grandma Muffett and Grandma Lind (my great-grandmas). I am eternally thankful for my kids' grandparents. These four individuals are helping shape my kids' lives and helping them become who they will be. Both sets of our parents would drop anything to be there for us (case-in-point, Dave & Viv dropping everything to be with the kids while we went to the hospital). They are amazing and so loving and I could not be more grateful to have them in our lives. I also want to give a special shout-out to my parents who are holding things together so well in the face of all that is going on. My mom with her unending compassion and love and dad with his endurance and stability in this hard situation make it easier for the rest of us to get through it. I hope and pray for them and am so sorry for what they are experiencing. I just can't imagine what I would do if this were one of my children but they are handling it amazingly! 

I love you parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents! You mean the world to me!