It’s been a long day without you, my friend……..

Woke up early this morning looked out the window and wasn’t too sure what kind of weather we were going to have today. The sky was gray with a few darker clouds rolling in. I thought to myself “oh man I was really hoping the sunshine would peak through! Oh wait, I’m in Seattle just wait 10 minutes and the weather will change.” Or so that’s what all the Seattle-otonians say. They were right, with the wind picking up the sky was still dark. Finally around lunchtime the clouds broke and blue sky appeared! Thank goodness ha ha! On another note how in the world is today April 30th?? Where has the time gone?? Good grief this year is flying by too quickly!

Anyways my mom and I decided to get out of the city and venture north for the day. We decided to drive to a town called Marysville. Although we have been here before (this is where we play bingo at Tulalip Casino and the Seattle Premium Outlets are here too) but we haven’t checked out the rest of the town. It is a cute small town, reminded me so much of home! Lot’s of local “mom and pop” restaurants along with several big named chain restaurants. They also have several big named stores (very similar to Roseburg) such as Wal-mart, Home Depot and a few others. Marysville is also home to Tulalip Casino which I will say is very beautiful place. Lots and I mean lots of different water falls and water features, beautiful flowers, and they also have several ponds fairly large size you can walk around. The ponds didn’t have any fish (that we could see) or other creatures in them. We did enjoy just walking around, getting fresh air and soaking up some vitamin D!

My mom and I wanted to go into a couple stores at Seattle Premium Outlets, so we ventured over that way. It would honestly take a person several days to cover all the stores this place has to offer. You thought the Woodburn Outlets were big, this is twice that size. When Jwood was up here we put a good dent into visiting a majority of the stores but we still weren’t no where near visiting them all. If you find yourself in Seattle and you like to shop, I highly recommend this place! We visited the several stores on our list, and then I ran into Nike Kerry asked me to look for a specific type of running shoe for him. While I was in the store I think witnessed one of the most funniest things ever! I was down one of the shoe isles and a lady wearing bright red high heels, flowered type leggings, and a bright red coat came walking down. She saw a pair of shoes she wanted and the size she needed was on the very top. Instead of asking for help she decided to step on the lower shelf (remind you she had high heels on) well the shelf broke and I’m pretty sure every shoes box that was on the shelf fell off! I heard this loud crashing sound, so I turned around to see this lady just standing there while all these shoes boxes fell piled up in the floor. She grabbed the size she needed and walked off. No one was hurt during this incident, thank goodness. I felt so bad for the several employees who had to fix and clean up the mess. I ran into Nike by myself, while my mom waited in the car. When I got back to the car I was dying laughing trying to tell her what just happened. She couldn’t believe it, she was mad she missed the whole situation and I didn’t get it on video. But she still well we both laughed pretty good! Ahhhhh my abs and chest hurt from laughing so hard! I do have to brag a little, while I was laughing (in the car of course) not once did I cough, or suck wind because I was short of breath! Such an unbelievable feeling! Definitely something I haven’t been able to do in years! It’s the little things we take for granted until they are taken away.

After we finished at the outlets we decided to try our luck one last time at bingo. It is safe to say we are BOTH DONE playing bingo in Washington! Neither one of us walked away with a bingo!!! Goodness!!!!! Oh well good thing it only costed us $16 for three hours full of laughter. Half way through the session you get a 15 minute break. My mom and I were sitting at the table talking about random things. Oh I do have to tell you this one little tidbit before I tell you this story. At the end of each table they have small trash cans available for your used bingo cards and whatever else that needs to be thrown away. Okay on with the story, during the intermission an elder lady who was in a wheelchair (a younger lady was pushing her) made their way from the back to the front. Along the way I am pretty sure the younger lady mowed down very garbage can with the wheelchair along the way. My mom and I busted up laughing! It didn’t matter if the trash can was under the table some how that lady would find away to hit it! I know it’s not polite to laugh at our older generation but I could not help myself in this situation. It was another “hilarious” moment for day. Ahhhh good times!

After we stunk up the floor at bingo it was getting late so we headed south back towards our apartment. Once we got in the car we cranked up the tunes and we both were singing our hearts out. A song came on the road that made me tear up. Whiz Khalifa’s song “See You Again” really hit home for me. Not only do I think of several people who mean the world to me who have passed on, I know they watch over me everyday. When ever I hear this particular song I always think of them, but this time I thought about myself, my life and this amazing journey I have been on. The chorus goes like this:

It’s been a long day without you, my friend

And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again

We’ve come a long way from where we began

Oh, I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again

When I see you again.

I thought to myself it truly has been a long time since I’ve been home, and I have most definitely come a long way from when I first arrived up here. I cannot express how excited I am to see all of my friends and family when I return home, and share my journey with them I know you guys read the blogs day and are amazed at my progress. But sometimes it is hard to believe until you actually set it. So when I get home, get to see everyone again, I will most definitely tell you about my journey! Hopefully I can find at least one person to listen! Ha Ha! Music is very powerful and I love making a memory with a melody. For me it brings a whole new meaning to the song when you make that kind of connection.

Okay I’ve rambled on long enough. I do want to say one more thing before I sign off, I LOVE seeing all the pictures on Facebook of people wearing their Just Breathe Team Jen shirts!!!! You guys are totally rocking them and I love it!!!! Love feeling the support from all of you! Hope everyone had a great Thursday! I know I did, it was full of laughter! Sorry for such a late blog tonight, didn’t get home until late. Needless to say this girl is beyond tired! Off to bed!!!!

Until next time…………..

~Jen~
“Just Breathe”