I'd Like to Thank...

Girlfriends, memoirs, my little people, runners, olives & LeAnn Rimes: What would I do without you?

You know how “they’re” always telling you to create a gratitude journal? Jot down all the people and things in your life for which you are thankful is the idea. Great in theory, right? If you’re like me, though, you never quite get around to it. Heck, I’ve even written about the benefits of doing this for a national magazine and still haven’t done it.

But it’s an idea that lately I can’t seem to shake. It keeps popping into my head as I (annoyingly) tell myself, “chin up, girl, things could always be worse.” Aggravating self-talk part 2: “Put your big girl pants on already” and “This too shall pass.”

Seeing as how I’ve really lapsed in writing posts this spring, I figured now is as good of a time as any to get cranking on The List. Plus, I generally am a thankful, hopeful person – I just happen to keep much of it in my head. So, here it is, a compilation of some greatness I’ve got going on, in no particular order. Maybe this will inspire you to start your own list, or if you’ve started one in the past, to get back to it. And since I’m a sucker for great stories, let me know what’s keeping you sane and smiling these days.

· Intelligent, loving, strong women in my life. Something happened in the last few years, and I am so happy about it: I have been lucky to have found myself surrounded by girlfriends who really, really get me. And they still want to hang around with me! That’s the miracle part, ‘cause believe me, I’m no picnic sometimes. We talk books, kids, husbands, faith, fitness, politics, pop culture, you name it. We might not even be talking about anything significant at all; it could be we’re simply being with each other, sipping glasses of wine. Oh, and laughing. Lots and lots of laughing.

· A cool town to call home. I’ve lived in northern Michigan for much of my life, save for a few years I was at Michigan State University, and the early years of my career and marriage when I called Minnesota home. And I swear, this place just keeps getting better and better. I’m sure there are plenty of terrific places to live and raise a family, but Traverse City surely is at the top. Great local food and drink, progressive thinking, friendly people, beautiful location on Lake Michigan…I’m proud to call this spot on the map my hometown. I have “I heart my city” moments fairly regularly, and a recent one was this: sitting up close and personal at our downtown’s City Opera House to hear one of my favorite authors speak about her amazing memoirs. Meeting her afterward, well, that was just too cool. I was a bumbling idiot, I’m sure, as she signed my book. But she was gracious and lovely and best of all confirmed my suspicion that we’d get along like peanut butter and jelly when she said this about raising kids (she’d asked me if I had children and I told her yes, three): “Oh, bless you.” Pause. And, looking me straight on: “It’s f*cking hard, isn’t it?” in her honey-smooth southern drawl. Saying it like it is - that’s my kind of woman.

· A virtual running community. I’m not sure what I’d do without my running buddies who live near me, but darn if we're not all so flippin’ busy. Translation: aligning our kid-partner-work-life schedules so we can actually lace up and hit the trails together is tough and often means we’re instead running solo during the windows of time we have to fit in exercise. It’s nice to have found an online running community that keeps me motivated and gives me a place to share running stories (and not bore my non-running friends). What I really like about this particular community are the women behind it: Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea – runners who also are writers, mothers and all-around fantastic women. Nope, I don’t know them in real life, but having read their articles in Runner’s World for years and then recently devouring their new book Run Like A Mother, I feel like we’re kinda sorta friends. Most of all, it’s a good feeling to find a group of like-minded women who get why in the world you’d want to drag yourself out of bed at dawn to run four miles. (Hint: your sanity depends upon it.)

· The best kids a mom could ask for. Let me just say it: motherhood is tough, the baby years being especially brutal for me at times. But watching my three children, now ages 9, 7 and 4 grow and change and develop their individual selves is proving quite fulfilling. Parenting is still hard and complicated more times than I ever would have thought pre-kids, but it’s also satisfying and humbling and beautifully imperfect. Moments I’m digging: cuddling on the couch with Emma, watching cheesy movies like The Wedding Planner or Aquamarine; tossing an MSU football in the front yard with Andrew; searching for roly-poly bugs under rocks with Alex. Sometimes my husband and me, we’ll just stop in a moment with our kids, look at each other and have the same thought: we made these amazing little people. How cool is that? Here's a picture of me and my crew on our vacation to Gulf Shores, Ala.

· Magazines! I like the internet as much as the next girl, but show me a rack of hot-off-the-presses magazines and I am in heaven. At one time I subscribed to a bazillion of them – slight exaggeration – and my college roommates could surely tell you stories about how I was so not okay with anyone leafing through any of my magazines arriving in the mail until I first had the chance to kick back and read them cover to cover. These days, partly to tell myself I’m saving money, I subscribe to just a few. Which is really kind of silly, actually, since I end up buying them at the store. Favorites: O, Runner’s World, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Women’s Health….ok, this list would get too long if I kept going. Let’s just say that our recent week-long vacation gave me ample time to catch up on pretty much every magazine published on this planet. It’s a sickness, and I fully own it.

· The coolest auto-immune disease around. OK, stay with me here! Yes, psoriasis on the surface (pun intended) is among the most heart-breaking things to have, in my humble opinion. Red, scaly skin is so not sexy, not to mention this skin disease is often misunderstood by the general public (it’s not in fact contagious, and no I can’t simply slather on lotion to make it go away). But I’m pretty sure having this disease is teaching me important things that I may not otherwise have learned. I’ve also met some pretty amazing people throughout my journey, which has included lots of hiding and feelings of shame early on but in more recent years my own brand of bravery by “coming out” about having psoriasis for a big-name women’s magazine. It’s also led me to want to educate others (and hopefully help people, too), which is happening through articles I’m writing for the National Psoriasis Foundation and just by feeling more comfortable in my own skin. A recent perk of this health condition: getting to interview LeAnn Rimes about her own struggle with this disease. (She was very kind, sweet, funny and easy to talk with.) Oh, and I also recently got paid to get a professional make-up session and write about it. Not bad.

· Coffee. I’d pretty much cease to exist without it, I think. While we’re at it: dark chocolate, cheese, Oberon and Blue Moon on draft, blue-cheese stuffed olives, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and spaghetti with meatballs. Not all at the same time, though I am starting to see why that flat tummy I covet is so elusive. Something else (which goes well with a cup of joe): music. Current faves: Coldplay, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson and Ray LaMontagne (on whom I have a crush and am convinced is a kindred spirit). God love Pandora radio on my iPhone.

Once you get started on these, I’ll bet you won’t be able to stop. Which is pretty cool since it can be easy to get caught up in life’s negativity rather than all the pretty terrific stuff going on. Here’s to thankfulness – and remembering to stop and appreciate all the good in your life.

My Mt. Holiday: Now and Then

Life has come full circle, I think while sitting in a worn, comfortable-like-your-favorite-jeans booth with views of skiers and snowboarders zipping back and forth, up and down. Has it really been that many years since I begged my parents for cash so I could buy a lift ticket, hit the hills and, most importantly it seemed at the time, hang in the lodge, giggle with girlfriends and -- if I was lucky -- ski down the slopes with a boy as White Snake and Def Leppard tunes blared from the outdoor speakers? (photo courtesy Mt. Holiday)

Yep, it has been that many years. It has to be, given that this night I am at Mt. Holiday with my kids. My kids! Thankfully, though, they're not yet teenagers. I have a few more years before worrying that my offspring believe ducking into the dark woods with a member of the opposite sex is equally as appealing as actually going down the slopes.

Still. I'm old. Or, well, older. And this fact remains: these hills on which I learned to snow-plow and schuss and french kiss are now my kids' hills. This is where they've on the bunny hill done "the pizza slice" -- see? they don't even call it the "snow-plow" anymore -- bolstered their confidence on the blue and yellow chair lifts and tested their bravado on ski jumps. In just a short time, my 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son have proven they know exactly what they are doing after strapping on the gear. Piece of cake, they've seem to say to me as they tromp into the lodge after several trips up and down the hills. They come in for a brief break, to warm up with hot chocolate and a basket of hot, greasy fries. Then, seeyamomwe'regonnaheadbackout. And did you see that jump I made?

I don't always sit inside, watching and reminiscing about when we made our way up the hill riding t-bars, not chairlifts. I also have put on the boots and skis and taken to the slopes with my kids. That, I must tell you, is a t-r-i-p. First of all, it does really all come back to you, like riding a bicycle, after a multiple-year hiatus. I didn't make a total ass of myself. But, it also was strange - there's no other word to describe it - to be riding the chairlift with your grade-school boy, easing any initial fears he has of being so far up off the ground and pointing out the beautiful city lights and bay view to be had at the top while also, in the back of your mind, thinking about the time you ventured down that one off-the-beaten-path hill with a certain boy because you'd hoped he'd kiss you. And he did.

It's all just a bit surreal.

But after a moment I shake myself of this 80s reverie, and think of how thankful I am for Mt. Holiday. And I know a lot of people like me who feel the same. It's not only that we're glad to see a local mainstay stick around and be appreciated (which Mt. Holiday definitely is, much to the credit of a hard-working staff and dedicated group of volunteers). It's also that we have the opportunity to share this with our kids. Aside from the teenage fun I had there, I smile thinking about my earliest days spent at the lodge with my step-father, who introduced me to this snowy sport so many years ago. It's a childhood memory I treasure.

Here's Emma and Andrew on a recent night at Mt. Holiday.

Mt. Holiday is better than ever these days, and I say that not only as a parent loving that I have a nearby place for my kids to make the most of northern Michigan winters. In recent years, the not-for-profit has ramped up its offerings, from family-friendly features like tubing, improved lodge dining options (Right Brain on tap, anyone?) and "krazy" cheap rates each week, to special events that take place throughout winter as well as year-round. A few years back we took advantage of summer movie nights there, and mountain biking is a big thing on the trails once the warmer weather strikes. It's great to see this community gathering spot continue to grow and thrive, particularly given that in 2001 Mt. Holiday closed with an uncertain future.

Living out of state at the time, I had no idea this had happened and was sad to learn the news upon returning to northern Michigan in mid-2001. It was around this time, though, that concerned residents began rallying to keep the ski area open. This group raised $1.2 million to acquire the property and begin its restoration.

Making sure Mt. Holiday is around for years to come, for families and particularly for underprivileged youth, is the focus of those involved in the organization. Two "skiership" funds have been established to allow every child a chance to learn to ski or snowboard regardless of ability to pay. These scholarships - the Tom Hall Memorial Skiership and Warren Brosch Memorial Skiership - offer lift tickets, rentals and lessons to any child who qualifies.

If you haven't spent time at Mt. Holiday lately, be sure to check it soon. It's sure to bring back too-fun memories if it's a place of your past – don't tell me I'm the only one who has the memories I do of these hills… It's also bound to become a new favorite, too, as it has for me and my family, whether being there is your long-time-in-coming return visit or your very first time. Either way, let me know how it goes.

Mt. Holiday recently revealed a new logo. Learn more about the many great things happening at this fantastic community spot here. Or call (231) 938-2500.