Mother's Day & Musings

Hello all!

It's Mother's Day! What can I say? Wow. Moms. They are amazing. Where would be without them? Literally: We would be non-existent. But, seriously, moms are the greatest!

I owe a lot to my mom. She is the strongest and most powerful woman I know and I couldn't fathom doing what she does all the time. I guess you could say she has been an inspiration to me in my fitness journey as well. 

My mom has always been one of those people who has done the "right thing" in life. She got married to my dad, she had my brother while going to school to be a nurse, got a lot of training and great jobs to help support her family (whether that meant being on call, working thirds, or just plain working her butt off), then she had me and the rest of my life is history. She and my dad have always tried to do what is best for my brother and me and, comparatively, we have had a pretty fortunate and good life.

Turns out biology doesn't really care if you have done the right thing. For the past two years I have watched her battle a crippling disease called Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). For those of you who don't know, RA is an autoimmune disease (meaning the body attacks itself) that affects the joints and causes them to swell, hurt, and become immobile. This disease has cost her so much. She had to stop pursuing her passion of nursing, she has missed holidays because of stays in the hospital, she almost missed my brother's wedding, and countless other things that her RA has taken away from her. 

Normally, RA is treatable and maybe even curable with proper treatment and medication. My mom does not have this luxury. A doctor once told my mom that she was Murphy's Law (Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong). Basically her body has rejected most forms of modern medicine in relation to her condition. I won't go into her entire medical history, so take this as you will.

Though she has had some nasty habits, she has generally stayed active and led a healthy life. She even tried to let go of her bad habits to become even more healthy right before she found out what she had. So what is the point of telling you all this? Preparation. My mother wasn't. This was not her fault. We have not, to my knowledge, had any complications like this in our family tree. This is a one in a million case. This has made me see that I need to treat my body like a temple and be prepared for the future because you don't know what life is going to throw at you and you need to live life the way you believe to be the best for you. One day you may no longer have the chance.

 Though I made the decision to change my lifestyle on my own, she has been a major inspiration and has supported me unconditionally with my choice. She once said, "Leah you need to stop losing weight or otherwise I'm going to start feeling bad about myself" in a joking way pointing to her belly. I had never before seen someone find the strength to be humorous, supportive, and humbled all in one sentence. She is a fighter. 

This is just one aspect of my mom. I am in awe of her for so many other reasons and I hope some day I will be able to be half the woman, hard worker, and mother she has been. I love you mom. Thank you for absolutely everything.

Happy Mother's Day!

If you feel so inclined, I would love to hear about you and your mom. 

Are you fitness fiends together?

 Fashionistas?

Or culinary artists?

Let me know with a comment below! C:

To wrap this all up, i want to say that Ia would like to start a new little series called "Monday Musings." This will just be a way for me to reflect on the past week and the week ahead and share with you guys my thoughts, opinions, feelings (related and unrelated to fitness) about whatever and also talk about a topic that   you choose. Hopefully this can be a nice way for everyone to chat and ask each other questions or share your own ideas. Let me know in the comments if you like this idea and what you think I should talk about?

Thank you all so much for reading!

Have a great Mother's Day!

buh bye!