Time
to reflect. I HAVE time to reflect! Wow, what a month! I won't bore
you with the details, but in addition to participating in the
Challenge, co-hosting the Challenge, wrangling my wonderful Terrific
Team of assistants who helped me manage the Challenge, it was also a
very challenging time for me medically. But I survived! The
badge - you have picked yours up, right? It's at the A-Z
Blog, or right there in the top corner of my sidebar - really fits me
this year. I was in survival mode.
I
went back and read my reflections from my first two challenges, and
realized that this year's reflections would be very different. No sex analogies. No sports analogies. Just the truth, in plain
format.
While
Life is Good, sometimes life is very hard. Sometimes God puts us
through ordeals that seem insurmountable, un-doable, unconquerable,
UNPLEASANT, and unending. However, He also gives us an out. This
year, The Challenge was my escape. I needed it to survive. I needed
the distraction. I needed the camaraderie that this community
provides. I needed YOU.
I
am humbled and awed and grateful for the way you responded to my
stories of my first year as an immigrant. You empathized with me,
you understood me, you told your own stories in the comments, you held me
up when I felt like falling down. You encouraged me. You kept me
going. I had some posts pre-scheduled, but there were times I was
writing my post at 4:30 am while shoveling scrambled eggs into my gut
so that I could be picked up by The Swede to go to the hospital to be
tortured, um, tested, for the root cause of my asthma.
I
also needed my co-hosts. They came through for me as they always do,
even though it was a year where many of them had challenges
far worse than mine. Still, they were there, ready to help out.
Of course, Tina's Terrific Team proved why they're terrific. The
behind the scenes work they accomplished was phenomenal!
I
suppose I should also talk about some pros and cons of the set up of
the Challenge. The categories thing...dying to hear what you all
thought of it, because it was last year's Reflections that prompted
that change. From a co-host's perspective, that caused more grief
than it was worth, in my opinion. Alex deserves a giant round of
applause, and to be flown by private jet to some remote island with
his wonderful wife for some R&R. How he managed that long list
and all our emails about what to fix simply amazes me. All hail the
Ninja Captain!
Please don't miss our annual Road Trip announcement post coming on Wednesday
May 8. The Road Trip is simply those of us who aren't giving up on
the visiting, and will continue to visit the participants using
whatever schedule fits our lives. Please join us – it's a great
way to stay in touch with friends you've made, and there are more
friends out there just waiting. They may turn out to be just the
friend you need to get you through the tough times. I'm blessed to
have friends like that in you, dear readers. Thanks for holding me
up.
~Tina
