Last Thursday, I had a celebration of my 2nd birthday. It has been 2 years since I had brain surgery, and October 8th will, forevermore, feel like a “new birthday” for me. The Montessori children (with whom I have the joy of dancing and doing Nia from time to time) made me a birthday card. I was talking to one of them who shared that she thought we should all have a “new birthday” every once in awhile. A lot have shifted during the past 2 years. I have retired from ministry at the church, and I now focus on teaching Nia (dance) and yoga in my studio, Aloft, here in Pullman. I have been given several opportunities to do more writing about my experience, for a Nia blog (talking about how I used Nia as a part of my healing process), as well as some other writing about recovering from brain surgery. So I find myself going back through the whole experience (in Nia, we call it “recapitulating”). I’ve been reading through the blog posts with interest, laughing with Jonathan about “My first boast” (my ability to write and spell was not epic at that time — my first post after brain surgery). I enjoyed reading the “Dr. Sunshine” posts, many of which I had not read before.

The blog is now renamed as “Seize Joy.”  That is what I try to remember to do every day.  I choose to focus my energies on being a “joy warrior,” to the best of my abilities.  Some days I fail miserably, but, on many days I find ample reason to seize the joy of the moment.

And to seize joy rather than randomly have seizures is a much fuller way to live.

I am hoping that most of you who were following this blog have, by now, unsubscribed, as your life has gone on. However, for those of you who might still be reading when it pops up, I invite you to read as I reflect further upon the experience, share some of the posts I’m writing for Nia, and share the next steps that will be coming up, which include finally going to a neuro-opthamologist to see if my vision can be “tweaked” to something closer to normal, as I continue to reduce meds (we don’t know how much, but I’m working on it with my neurologist, and as I go back to Boston once again for more scans (sometime in the spring). Like most real-life stories, this one goes on, and I find this blog to be a place to write the journey. Join me if you choose, or not, and thank you to so many of you who have been a part of this experience. With love, Kristine