Life is funny in that we seem to wait for big, sometimes scary, sometimes surprising, changes to come our way to find reasons to celebrate. We’re reminded in times of sorrow, to celebrate life and those we love, and in times of happiness, to celebrate how fortunate we are. In the last week or so, I’ve had many reasons to celebrate many things: life, engagements, birthdays, even goodbyes. Stepping back and thinking about these celebrations makes me realize even more so how much we have to celebrate, on a daily basis. It’s the little things, like Kevin whipping up breakfast for me before work, coffee breaks with my coworkers during a hectic work day, and a long walk catching up with a great friend, that sometimes merit just as much reason to celebrate.
So for this, below is my latest "list in pics," shown through snapshots, of my many reasons to celebrate lately. And I hope that you join me in finding the little things each day to celebrate. Lord knows we have countless reasons to rejoice. We just need to recognize them as they’re in front of us. Happy Friday, all! (Reason #1 I will give you to celebrate today!)
Xoxo, Molly
My very great friend and roommate of all four years at OU, Rachel, lost her father recently. My heart just hurt for her and her family as they went through this difficult time. What I want to point out, is that I was blown away at his visitation and memorial service. His family and friends celebrated his life in such a beautiful way and showed through their stories how wonderful of a person he was, and the impact he made on so many lives. It made me proud to be Rachel’s friend, seeing her do such a killer job that day, and truly made my heart happy, seeing Marty’s life shining down on all of his children, grandchildren and wife Patty. What a reason to celebrate!
Engagements! My goodness, they always say all your friends start dropping like flies once you reach a certain age, and now I believe it! I am absolutely elated with the news of two of my very best friends’ engagements to their longtime, awesome boyfriends. I love that these two will be going through wedding planning with me, and they are making it 100% clear that the next year is going to be a wild, remarkable ride! Enjoy it, girlfriends! (And you know I’m also secretly lol’ing that you’ll be firsthand experiencing everything I’ve been talking about since March!)
Another reason I love celebrating engagements? It brings friends together! To celebrate Claire and Bryce, we got together and spent a day at the lake. Such a fun day, and naturally for us girlfriends, we made it a just-as-fun night out! Hilariously enough, we went to the nearby Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, IN, and had such a funny, fun time! We hung out with Pitbull and Chris Brown impersonators, danced the night away at Boogie Nights and laughed until we cried at how hysterical it all was. Seriously such an awesome night with old and new friends!
My last appointment with my plastic surgeon! Once again, it is still surreal to me that all this craziness is near over. I had a freaking double mastectomy three months ago and I’m already able to say goodbye to my plastic surgeon?! Hallelujah! I unfortunately have other reasons to say goodbye to Dr. Nguyen. She accepted a job at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and is leaving University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Fortunately for me, she was able to finish me up in a timely manner and leave me in good hands at UCMC if I ever need anything else. Naturally, my mom snapped a pic of us before we said goodbye forever! And even more naturally, I ended up seeing her walking her dog the very next day as I was making a Bruegger’s coffee run with a coworker. She just can’t get away from me! In all seriousness, she did such a fabulous job and was a tremendous resource for me through all of this and for that I am very thankful.
Birthdays! It’s probably my fault that Kevin’s birthday always turns into “birthday week.” I LOVE celebrating birthdays. And here’s the deal, I don’t think he minds one bit. We started the bday week with dinner at his parents’ and enjoyed Kevin’s fave, key lime pie. The rest of the week included lunch at Sleepybee’s with Mare on Monday, followed by a night on the town with me that evening, a surprise dinner with all of our friends (thank you to our peeps who really pulled that off well!) Wednesday and yet another birthday dinner last night at Eli’s with Jenny, Liv & Kyle. He sure was spoiled, and deservedly so! The guy has dealt with a whole lot of sh*t the last few months, AND proposed to me this year, so I think he’s allowed an extra special birthday week. Cheers to many more, K-Dawg!
