A hurricane of a birthday!

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Happy birthday to me! 🎉

This past week, my family and I celebrated my 57th birthday. What a week it’s been! My immediate thought when I woke up on the morning of my birthday was, I don’t want to turn 57… I want to stay 56 forever!

56 was a year I will never forget. It was indeed a memorable year for me. Life was good to us; we moved into our new home, a home I had dreamed about for years, and then purchased a second home in the beautiful Georgia mountains. Everyone in our family was thrilled.

The morning of my birthday, we woke up to a hurricane. Literally! This was a sign of the year ahead! It was a tough day, because I knew Ron was scheduled to have surgery the next day.

Back in May, we wound up in the ER for severe side pain. This is when we found out that Ron had a pulmonary blood clot, and discovered a mass in his chest. It had been a time, I tell you! This sent us down the rabbit hole of seeing oncologists and thoracic surgeons. The hardest part of all of it was the waiting; you wait and you wait and try not to let your mind get the best of you. It has been very difficult.

The surgery went well, and Ron is at home now resting and recuperating. Thank you so much to all of our friends and family for your thoughts and prayers; your calls, emails, and texts are genuinely what got him through it. He’s a big people person and thrives through hard times knowing he is loved and cared about. Each person who reached out brought a huge smile to his face. Thank you!

These are the two biggest lessons I’ve learned in my 57 years:

1. Life is never great or horrible forever. Hang on! Love your people through the best and the worst.
2. You can love someone through anything. Anything!

I know this newsletter is usually full of fun and inspiration, but so many of you have followed me for a long time, and we have become friends, so I wanted to share this with you. Thank you for being here!

Typical of my personality, all of this has made me dig in extra hard on work. Developing new recipes, updating old recipes… watch out, I have some good ones on the way! Especially a recipe for low-carb crispy chicken fingers that are out of this world. I can’t wait to share that one with you!

Oh, and what did Ron request when we got home? His favorite: Sunday Sauce and meatballs.

Cheers to 57 years of life, love, and laughter. I am fortunate to be surrounded by so many friends!

Your friend,
Isabel