Here are some pics of what we have been up to lately. This is picture overload which tells me maybe I should blog more often.
The fire department raised $5,248 for the MDA {Muscular Dystrophy Association} Proud of my husband for putting it on and so grateful for the guys and gals who were able to make it out and help.
Went to the Del Mar horse races where we won big....in love! We decided to leave our money there.
Family reunion/Grandpa's 90th birthday with my dad's side
{This is where my son gets his height from}
Wood Family {minus 10}
Grandpa with his 6 kids
The cousins {minus 3}
The cousins kids/ great grand kids {minus 5}
Amazing sunsets lately
Amazing sunrises lately
My new morning seat to watch the sunrises
The schools all started up this week but my kids go back next week since we do the hybrid homeschool program. We headed to the very empty beach for a homeschool surfing lesson.
Does this get any cuter?
It's been a wonderful and busy week. I'm still in bed and the kids have crawled in with me. I'm hoping they want to stay here all day with me because for some reason I'm having a hard time getting out.
Happy Friday, happy weekend and happy Labor Day!!!!
On the way home from our date last week I had one of my moments where I wished things were different with my health. It's been over 3 1/2 years since I have been able to run around on the beach. Its been over 3 1/2 years since I have been able to go for a long walk. Its been over 3 1/2 years where a day doesn't go by and it's not on my mind. As we were driving down the coast with the windows down and warm air blowing through the car I wanted more. I really feel like I have accepted the disease and am grateful for all that I DO have but last week, I wanted that walk on the beach holding my husbands hand. I wanted to walk around just like the thousands of other people were but the truth is, I just can't... YET. I keep waiting for my prayers to be answered and all my energy and strength restored but each day that passes I can feel something sneak in me. I'm not losing hope but I am realizing that maybe I won't get better.
My mind doesn't work like most peoples so when someone tells me that today will be the best you'll be and tomorrow you'll only get worse, I don't listen. There is something in my mind that blocks that noise and shoots it right back out my ears. But last week, on that car ride home, a little bit of that voice snuck in. So as we were driving home I told Anthony how much I wanted to do the things we used to do. I said I was going to and I didn't care about the consequences. He gently told me that I just can't do it right now and because I knew this, I cried. I tried to hold it in so I stopped talking. Otherwise it would have come full force, tears, unintelligible voice, the snot, all of it. Anthony looked over and asked if I was crying so I nodded. He grabbed my hand so I looked out the window, as if that was going to stop me. It didn't. I cried. Hard. Wiping my tears with the back of my hand saying it just wasn't fair anymore. I really don't feel like I did anything to deserve this so why me? There, I said it. Why me? I want to play. People don't even realize the amount of energy they take for granted.
You probably don't think twice about planning out your day according to your energy level. I have to think twice about when I am going to go to the grocery store because after that, I'm spent. If I want to go to Target... I need to pick a day where nothing else is planned and the next day will be slow so I can recover. I want to have swimming races with my kids. The other day I swam across the pool and it felt so good. The kids swam with me and half way back I wasn't sure if I could make it all the way. These little reminders that I'm not physically strong are starting to wear on me.
We will just have to do things a little differently. We went on a little family walk the other day and this is how it looked.
Just a little different now.
I couldn't be more grateful for my husbands love and the care he provides.
Maybe it's foolish of me to keep the amount of hope that I do but it's what I choose. It's what gets me through the day, knowing that I really can wake up tomorrow and feel better, completely better. Because with Him, all things are possible.
The day started off early, watching the sunrise with my son as my daughter slept soundly next to my bed from last nights sleepover. The kids got to watch a movie last night but the only way to make it possible was to set up camp in my room so this mama could fall asleep.
It was a hot day, a very hot day. The inside temp in the house was 91*
So we found refuge on the stone floor hoping if we laid completely still we could cool off and feel a breeze come in. We are part of a summer saver program through our energy company so our AC is shut off during peak hours. There are about 2 days a year I regret being environmentally conscientious and frugal, but in the end it is totally worth it!
That evening, Anthony got a rare opportunity to go on a date! A date that didn't involve going to Costco or running any errands. We had dinner with his twin brother and his wife {who noticed I haven't been blogging much} I'm hoping when the kids are back at school a few days a week, I will have a chance to sit in peace and quite and get back into the swing of things.
After dinner we headed one mile west to put our feet in the sand and watch the sunset.
The water felt SO good but I had a dress on and it was too crowded to just jump in fully clothed. I settled for half way and enjoyed the refreshing salt water splashing my legs.
A day when I watch the sunrise and then the sunset makes me feel complete. My soul is rejuvenated and my heart is full.
This past Saturday I attended a funeral for a fallen soldier. A real American hero.
I didn't know Eric personally. My husband works with and trains his brother, Rob. When Anthony received the phone call from Rob saying that his brother had been killed in Afghanistan we got that sick feeling in the pit of our stomach. Another soldier has just left behind his wife and many people who loved him dearly. This man put his life at risk for our freedom and he saved many lives as a medic. While at the service we listened to many people speak about what a great guy Eric was. He loved people and he loved helping others. One of the men that spoke at the service was saved by Eric a few years ago. He had been shot in the lungs and was unable to take a breath in and as his mouth was filling with blood, he realized that this was it. And then he heard Erics calm voice telling him to take a breath. Eric attended his wounds and when this man looked up at Eric, hoping to see from his expression how bad his condition was, he saw a smile on Eric's face as he said, "You took the zig when you should have taken the zag." He saved this mans life. What these guys go through, I will never understand. What their families go through, I will never understand. These men and women who are fighting to protect our country are heros. Honor them daily for the service they selflessly provide. Eric kept a blog while he was overseas. This was the final blog of Eric Williams titled "Coming Home": Tuesday July 17, 2012. This deployment is coming to an end, in a few days we will be on a plane back to the United States to rejoin our family and friends and to try to readjust to a certain semblance of what we think life should be. The truth is everything has changed, we collectively have changed. We have changed as people, as an army, as citizens of the United States. We face uncertainty in nearly every aspect of our lives. Our families have been without us for a year and we have only two weeks to try to enjoy the extremely limited time we have with them before its back to the daily grind. Two weeks to try to reconnect, although this process can take weeks, months or even years. There is no promise that any of us will return unchanged. But we collectively have been granted access to something few ever see, or choose to see for that matter. We have bared witness to the atrocities of war. We have thrust ourselves into the midst of chaos in order to do something so important, so visceral, that few will ever understand what it means. We collectively have risked it all and put everything on the line to save our fellow man, regardless of nationality, race, religion or sex. I for one will reflect on these experiences for decades to come. And I know my comrades will as well. I cannot begin to describe the things we’ve seen, felt, or heard. We have lost brothers and colleagues. We have felt the sting of losing someone we tried our hardest to save. We have cleaned up the blood and reset our equipment in order to go back out and do it again. These people I work with are some of the most dedicated men and women I have ever met. They come from all walks of life and although different in so many aspects, all come together collectively to accomplish this mission. I’m proud to say that I work with some of the most professional people there are. But now we are going home. Were out of this god forsaken country, but we take with us the weight of a thousand missions. To try to dissect them as best we know how.
So in closing, while reading this you might think I’ve become some angry disillusioned man, someone who sees things so much different than the average citizen, well maybe your right. But I can only hope that things someday will change. As for our accomplishments here in Afghanistan, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I will forever hold these experiences close.
Here are a few instagram photos from what we have been up to lately...
Enjoying a weekday at the beach
Wyatt surfing
Alexis and I holding hands on the car ride home
Breaking out the crimper for 80's night
Sleeping beauties
Wyatt at the otolaryngologist (say that a few times)
Wyatt photographing mom and dad "touching noses"
We have been enjoying the lazy days of summer; staying out late playing in the street with the neighbors; sleeping in; swimming; beach days; watching movies; and just soaking up as much sun and relaxation as we can. I hope you all have been enjoying yourselves!
Want to follow me on instagram? I'm akafieri or you can use followgram. Leave me your name in the comments so I can see what you have been up to :)
Nine years ago I became a Mrs. My Mister has made me the happiest lady in the world. I can't imagine my life without him. He has provided me with so much love and friendship, always staying my side, and the fact that he is so darn good looking helps too ;)
When Wyatt turned 1 and I stopped nursing him, I asked Anthony to take me on a weekend getaway. I wanted a full nights sleep and a couple of days of just the two of us. 4 1/2 years later we finally took that trip!!! It was our first romantic getaway, one of many more to come. It took me finally booking a room and planning it out myself but that's ok.
As we approached the windmills I started getting really excited. It brought back many wonderful memories of driving through the desert to get to Lake Havasu, my happy place.
I brought my own handsome bellhop. (Just so you know, my bag is the small one)
View from our Villa
View from the camera lens
A little night swimming to cool off from the 110* heat.
Whoa, I even drank when we were there. Bar tender was overly kind and kept giving me refills.
The weekend was wonderful!! The heat, not so much. Turns out when the doctor told me I had heat intolerance, it meant that my body can't tolerate the heat. I didn't believe him because I spent so much of my life enjoying extreme heat and not having a problem. Oh well, things change, you move on. I spent a total of 2 hours the entire weekend outside and once the chest pain started and I couldn't see straight, we retreated back to our room.
Happy Anniversary Babe! Looking forward to many many more years together with you by my side. I love you more each day!!
Nancy Giannuzzi, a beautiful Italian women who had an incredible adventure with 91 years worth of stories to tell.
My mother-in-law, Madalyn wrote this eulogy:
What a Life!
What a Character!
The quintessential Italian momma.
Nancy, Momma Mia, Mom, Sis, Giannutz, Grandma and Gigi.
She answered to all of these titles and had a personality to fill her assorted roles.
Her most recent nickname, Gigi, came about as a result of becoming a great-grandma – the G.G. stood for Grandma Giannuzzi as well. It just seemed to fit her 4'6” frame.
Think of how the world has changed in 91 years.
Gigi spent her childhood living near her grandparents farm on the island of Ischia. It was a happy time.
She spoke of the vineyards, the chickens and rabbits as fond memories.
She recalled her grandmother baking bread every morning and preparing the noon meal for her husband and their workers. They even had a horse drawn cart.
Happy times for Gigi but not so for her father, Ernesto. Work was scarce and he knew that the dictators Mussolini and Hitler were power hungry. He looked to America as a brighter future for his family. It took him eight years to get everything in order to bring his family along. In those years, the family only saw him occasionally.
Gigi never received a formal education. She went to school in Italy, but, the focus was placed on domestic duties. As a result, she became a fine seamstress and cook.
In 1936, Gigi, who was seventeen at the time, her mother Angelina and two younger brothers Ernie and Frank came to New York.
They didn't enter through Ellis Island, since they already had their paperwork in order. They were docked nearby. Gigi recalls seeing the throngs of people entering Ellis Island. A younger brother, Anthony, was born in America, in 1939. My uncle Frank is now the only one remaining and he resides in Florida with his wife, Emily.
Ernesto attained the American Dream. He ran a little candy store in New York and the family lived above it.
One day some men paid him a visit and commented on his large picture window – they told him that he needed to buy insurance just in case the window was ever broken. He sent them on their way and, a few days later, his window was shattered. The men returned and said he needed them to insure that his window would not be broken again.
This extortion continued until Ernesto just couldn't take it anymore and he eventually moved the family to Connecticut.
My grandfather had an expression:
He would shrug his shoulders and say, “What are you going to do?”
Gigi was married and divorced twice. So, as a single mom she raised, Rudy, myself and Angie with the help of her mother, Angelina. She worked assorted jobs as the years progressed.
In the spring of 1956, the family moved to California and settled in Torrance where the three of us kids grew up.
We eventually met the Scotto family. Tom & Nancy used to raise rabbits in their backyard and my mom and grandma became regular customers of theirs. Some of my earliest memories are of us running down the aisles of rabbits in their pens.
Gigi and Nancy Scotto became fast friends – and they , also, got into the best shouting matches. One of them would say to the other, “Oh, shut up.” – the other would respond with, “No, you shut up.” And back and forth they would go!
It was always on the tip of my tongue to say, “Maybe you should both shut up.” But, I was just a kid at the time and after all – as pop would say, “What was I going to do?”
When Gigi was 51, she met and married Bill Giannuzzi – her knight in shining armor. They lived happily for 16 years until he passed, in 1986. We all loved him and miss him dearly.
You, all, honor us with your presence today. Many of you have traveled hundreds of miles and I can't tell you how appreciative we are of your efforts. Your sentiments have really bolstered us.
Our friend, Anna made arrangements to have a candle lit at an Italian church near Tuscany, Italy. Mom would have loved that!
I want to thank my family for their unwavering support.
I also want to thank Rod and Teme Christiansen who have been Gigi's caregivers for the past 15 months.
Because of their efforts, she was able to attend Michelle & James's wedding.
She couldn't get up and dance on her feet anymore, so, she danced with her hands.
At Anthony & Karen's wedding she attempted to catch the bouquet.
And, at Dominic & Julie's wedding she danced as much as possible.
Last year was a particularly rough one for Gigi. In March, she fell and broke her left hip and arm and then in November she fell and broke her right hip.
The skilled nursing facility had a name for patients like Gigi.
They called them Falling Stars.
So, as the song suggests, I will catch her falling star and put it in my pocket and never let it fade away!
Aunt Angie got up and spoke and emphasized the love G.G had for everyone and the warm greeting she always gave. She mentioned they were not rich monetarily but they were certainly rich in love.
I didn't take any pictures inside the mortuary but I snapped a few at the mauzeoleum where she was laid to rest.
Dominic(Anthony's twin), Kevin(cousin) and Anthony were pallbearers.
After 2 days of stormy, cloudy weather, we were greated with a beautiful sunset as the family all gathered together at an Italian restaurant for dinner after the funeral.
Here is the video slideshow I put together for the memorial service.
"Afterglow"
I'd like the memory of me
to be a happy one,
I'd like to leave an afterglow
of smiles when life is done.
I'd like ot leave an echo
whispering softly down the way,
Of happy times and laughing
times and bright and sunny days.
I'd like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun,
