The last few months have been busy, stressful, and at times very frustrating for me, between fencing, keeping the cookies rolling and some major family issues and personal I have not been my usual chatty self. I am happy to say that I'm finally pulling myself up by the boot straps and starting to get back to my old self.
First the family stuff
In November a family member was diagnosed with lung cancer and had to have three lobes of her lung removed. During the process of diagnosing lung cancer questionable growths were found on this family members remaining kidney, yes you read that correctly her remaining kidney, she had lost the other one due to cancer 8 years ago. In late February The doctors decided that best course of action would be to cut out the suspicious growths. information has been hard to come by during this whole ordeal and the stress level has been understandably high, particularly after the order was handed down that a visiting the hospital was forbidden even after a plane ticket and hotel room were purchased. Things have improved in the last week but its still not a great situation.
Now the personal stuff.
In January I started down a path of reflection, I have made mistakes in my life and done some things that I am not proud of, an email was received that reminded me of these past behaviors but I can honestly say that I am not the same person I was when these transgressions occurred, oddly the reason for the growth is the discovery and involvement in fencing. Fencing has provided me with a reason to get my butt out of bed, something to focus my energies on and at times it provides great stress relief. All I can say in light of this reminder of where I have come from is that I am sorry to those I have hurt and do what I can to eradicate those behaviors from my character, learn from my mistakes, and move forward
Finally the fencing stuff
In December I had my first tournament of the domestic season in Kansas City where I had my best finish of my career to that point 7th in both epee and foil. In February I took a weekend trip to Tampa Florida where my team and I put on a wheelchair fencing demo for a group of enthusiastic kids to get them interested in the sport that I have come to love. In March in the mist of the Miami Drama I had my 2nd tournament of the domestic season where I took 8th in epee and once again 7th in foil, I was not my best tournament but I did place and I learned quite a bit. I can live with that. A few weeks ago I finished my domestic season in Virgina Beach where I finished 8th in epee and 6th in foil. I seemed to have found my weapon in foil. So much so that coach is telling me to get ready for an international event...after the paralympics in September. Its going to be a hectic few months fencing wise.
Time to rebuild refocus and build my life, my fencing career and my cookie biz
