Katherine Arnold Wolf Updates

It was such an amazing day. This is the picture Jay took on his cell phone and texted to a few friends and family yesterday morning. I started my birthday with Banana Pancakes made by Chef Jay. They were delicious. Our dear friends, Anna and Andy, gave me the gorgeous bouquet of flowers that you can see in this picture. They have sat in the center of our table ever since, signifying my special day.

My dear friend, Mia, dropped by on my birthday morning and brought me a South African treat, Bobotie, which she had at a party I went to last year (I couldn’t eat it there and was so bummed). My mother-in-law is here now and took us all to the Stride Rite and treated us to two cute pairs of shoes for James (truly a gift to his mother for many reasons!) We had ‘In and Out’ for lunch which is potentially my favorite place in the world.

For dinner, Jay had made dinner reservations at Mozza (this fancy LA place created by Mario Batali), but instead I asked to stay in Culver City. We cancelled those plans and went to Fraiche (a fabulous French/Mediterrean eatery) right here. It was so good. Saving money while enjoying life is my theme song, so we dined at the Happy Hour and got the best prices on delicious food. I loved it! We went to Akasha (yet another fabulous CC restaurant, literally just at the end of our block) for dessert and coffee. It was wonderful day. It was a panic-attack free day. It was a day to look at my life and practice contentment. It was a magnificent day. What a difference a year makes.

Midday, we got the snail mail and there were so many cards and letters from many of you. Y’all are just the sweetest! I treasured each one, and just do not deserve so much love from strangers. And gifts? Just too much! I feel unworthy. I thank you from the very bottom of my heart. I just recently (while moving in) went through all the Christmas Cards from this past year. I was reminded afresh that people throughout our country (and around the world), are checking in on me and sending me love and well wishes. That fact is not lost on me. I am proof that significant support is a profound thing and can lead to recovery. Profound. Thank you.

Yes, this birthday was different. That could be very sad. I have sad moments (read my entry on Feb 2nd if you need proof), but overwhelmingly, I feel blessed. Blessed to celebrate and embrace this next year that I get to be alive. God brought me into this world 28 years ago, and I’m so glad He has allowed me to stay here for a while longer. Again, it is not lost on me that my life was spared for a reason.

My sweet friend Hillary calls this idea of celebrating life no matter the hardships “capturing the moment”. Hillary and I had our babies just four days apart. She had cute little Katie on James’ due date. (They are still dating – they’ve been together over 2 years now and have even endured a long distance relationship while he was living in Pomona.) We delivered at the same hospital with the same doctor. We were destined to be friends, we have multiple mutual friends and now we are neighbors!!!—We live about 5 minutes from each other (truly a rarity in these parts.)

After six weeks of unplanned hospital bed-rest with her third little one (last summer), she had her precious baby boy. He was born five weeks early and has been diagnosed with “agenesis of the corpus callosum” (born without the part of the brain that connects the right and left lobes). Their family has been through a lot recently, but like me, she’s determined to not let those little mundane moments slip by. –The ones that distract you from whatever it was that you were on your way to do. With 3 kids under the age of 5 at home and one of them being a child with Special Needs, she is capturing each moment. Check out her blog: http://capturingmotherhood.blogspot.com I love that idea. That’s how I want to live.

I share the above picture with you to capture that moment. My face may be paralyzed and I can’t smile for the camera, but that does not mean we didn’t capture it. Jay even broke out the video camera. I’ll post it when I can… or maybe I won’t. Some moments are just for us, because they are so special.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 7:57 am and is filed under CaringBridge.org Update. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.