Moments D705: Vibrating Needles

I have been dealing with a pinched nerve and a kinked next for a week and a day as of today.  Yes, laugh it up - I'm getting old.  Sleeping deep and hard in one position apparently is not good for one's neck!

Early this morning, it my neck finally popped back into place, but all the muscles around that point are still furious with me as I haven't been relieved the pain I've been carrying around.  To make matters worse (or the pain in this case), all week my left arm has been spasming because of the pinched nerve.  Today my entire arm feels like I've been doing major workouts on it every day for the past seven days.  It's sore, it's exhausted, and it is still spasming!

And so, I made an appointment with my chiropractor for some acupuncture and an adjustment in the hopes that I would finally find some relief from this crazy pain.

Now, I've been doing acupuncture for many years now.  It's always been helpful on the strangest pains that have cropped up over the years.  What happened in today's treatment has never happened before.

As my chiropractor inserted the needles into my shoulders and elbows (both points), I could feel the needles vibrating, wiggling in their points.  It was the weirdest sensation.

Once inserted and fully into position, they felt the same as all the other needles:  a bit warm and biting in my tense muscles.

Twenty minutes pass and it's time to take the needles out.  Again, as my chiropractor goes to remove the needles, they are actively vibrating just as she pulls them from my skin.

Very weird and wondrous.  I don't really know how it works, but the pain in my neck was nearly gone and I had better rotation of my head too.  The pain in my shoulder and forearm, that was still there, but definitely lighter than it had been earlier.

BANGARANG for vibrating needles.

Now to deal with these tight muscles.  Spa anyone?

Moments finding solutions to a problem.

Moments experiencing something new doing something old.

Moments D704: 22 Quotes

When I woke this morning, my niece had texted me a photo overnight:

That is her dorm room at university.  And all those little papers on the wall?  Those are quotes I stuffed into her highschool graduation card.  There were 22 quotes in fact. Each and everyone are on the wall beside her bed.

Wow.  How truly incredible.  That was the best warm fuzzy I've had in a long time.  What a fabulous way to start the day!

Moments knowing that loving your family is reciprocated.

Moments waking up the a warm fuzzy.

Moments D703: Pearl

Tonight I went to visit BFF after volleyball  It's been far too long since her, but I was happy for a short visit (it being a "school" night after all!).  Sometimes a short visit is better than no visit at all!

What a fabulous short visit we had.  She shared her leftover dinner with me.  I know in some worlds that may seem odd, but BFF can cook and I was damn happy to have a late dinner of her leftovers!  Over dinner and a glass of wine, we caught up.  She dug into her bag of goodies from Jamaica with glee in her eyes.  I could see the recipes rolling around in her head as she pulled out the special ingredients that I brought back for her.  Bangarang!  That's what I love!

Before I share today's moment, I need to backup and explain that BFF & I love monkeys.  It all started with the lack of a "hug" emoticon in Google's Hangouts - we nominated the monkeys as our hug emoticon.

Back in December BFF had knee surgery.  I was in California.  Bad timing, I know.  I felt terrible to not be around to help out when/where I could.  And so, I sent her a hug, in the mail.  You guessed it, it was a monkey!

She named him Earl.

Tonight, Early gave me a birthday present.  He presented Pearl to me:

And now Earl as a friend!  Monkey hugs everywhere now!

Earl & Pearl.  BFFs.

Perfect right?

What a fabulous surprise.  Thank you Earl.  Thank you BFF.

Moments reconnecting and catching up.

Moments enjoying a lovely surprise.

Moments D702: Perfect...or not.

Sometimes hard work pays off.  Actually, come to think of it, at least in my experience, hard work nearly always pays off.  In this case, it definitely paid off.

We received our tests back tonight in class.  I scored a perfect 100%!  Wow.  I haven't done that in a very, very long time.  What a sweet surprise!

And then, we dig into the answers.  It wasn't long before I realized that I hadn't scored perfect on this test after all.  No!  I missed a mark on the third question.  Curious.

Turn the page and AH HA! I landed the bonus question!

Sweet.  Of course, now I realize I could have ended up with 110% on this test.  How wild would that be?

Pretty wild.  But hey, I'll take perfect!

Moments being pleasantly surprised.

Moments seeing your hard work pay off.

Moments D701: Bleeding hearts

That was my surprise when I arrived home after dropping EQ off at the airport.

Can you see where this love heart is?  Yes, that's right.  On a piece of toilet paper, in the toilet bowl. Yes, that's right, you read correctly. In the toilet bowl.

How incredibly amusing.  How incredibly sweet for EQ to leave an ensured laugh and smile behind as he travels for the next 3+ weeks.

Moments already missing your love even though he's only just boarded the plane.

Moments appreciating your love's surprise love note.

Moments D700: The calm

Tonight was EQ's last night here for awhile.  While it's only a business trip, it's a long one.  We'll both be busy in the coming weeks to keep us well in over our heads.  But it will never be busy enough to easy the pain of separation.

Sappy?  Maybe. But considering it's a miracle that he and I ever crossed paths in the first place? Maybe not. Give the fact that we seem to fit like two lost puzzle pieces that complete the picture.  No, definitely not too sappy.  He and I are too old to pretend that what we have isn't something special.  Our time together will be short, no matter what because neither of us are young pups.

So yes, the pain of separation for such a duration is a painful one.

Today's moment isn't about that pain.  No.  It's about celebrating what we have.  It's about knowing that though we are physically separated, we are not apart.

Tonight, we spent the night fully present and with one another.  We sat on the couch for most of the night talking and dreaming.  We didn't bother making dinner, we ordered in pizza and salad.  When it arrived, we shared the most recent episode of our new favourite series, Vikings.  Later, he massaged my sore shoulder and we continued our plotting to rid the world of evil.

We went to bed early and continued our plotting until we fell asleep in one another's arms.  It was a perfect calm before the storm of our lives hit, for tomorrow, it will be a mad dash off to work with me and for him to get packed up to leave.  I'll be eye-ball deep in  catching up with my readings for class (the bad student I am!) and he'll be busy preparing for his carving camp and then the seminars he's presenting the following week.

Time will fly.  After all, we're going to be busy.

But it won't be fast enough.

Moments enjoying the calm before the storm.

Moments being present and enjoying the company and conversation of the man you love.

Moments D699: Milestone birthdays

Today my niece turned 19.  I remember holding her when she was only hours old in this world.  She's grown into such a beautiful, vibrant, loving young woman.  I am one proud aunt.

What an incredible milestone.  I remember mine fondly.  My Big Sis took me out on my 19th birthday.  My first drink, a fuzzy navel. Lame.  I know, but still memorable to this day!

While I'm a proud aunt, but I'm an old aunt.  Twenty-one years separate my sweet niece and I, so as much as I would have loved to join her at a bar for her first drink, starting the evening at 10 pm on a Sunday night really wasn't in the cards for EQ & I.  Instead, we offered to take her out for dinner before her birthday outing with friends and cousins her age began.  Of course, we went to her favourite restaurant: Grazie.  (How could we not?)

Little did my sweet niece know, but my Big Sis, her hubby and her other daughter were going to be there at the restaurant already.  Big Sis & her hubby had the day off and were able to drive into the city for a surprise birthday dinner.

I warned EQ that there would be tears.  We weren't disappointed!  As we walked into the back room, my niece saw her family and instantly sprung tears in her eyes.  Mom, Dad & sister were all teary-eyed.  I love when a moment is so filled with love that you just burst!  This moment, with the first hugs of the night, was just such a moment.

Perfect really for a milestone birthday.

Moments celebrating a milestone birthday.

Moments celebrating family.

Thank you for the round of shots Grazie - a nice touch for the birthday girl.