Circus Summer Intensive

This summer marks the 10th summer that Gabby has spent at The Actors Gymnasium.

After her first summer at Circus Camp, she declared that she was never going to another camp ever again...she fell in love!  10 years later, years of being a camper, mentor, and now counselor at Circus Camp, you can still see the love in her eyes for this place.

Sinobia has now joined the Circus Camp love fest and is now in her 2nd year there.

This summer is the 3rd year that Gabby has taken the Summer Intensive class at the Actors Gym.  This is a 6 week workshop that allows for students to practice their skills at a higher level of intensity, while giving them the opportunity to choreograph their own work for a final talent showcase.

This years "sold-out" 2 show Saturday was filled with exciting acts and incredible talent.

If you know Gabby, you know that she pretty much lives her live being humble and modest.  She is not one for wanting the spotlight on her.  She finds it difficult to let her star shine as she dislikes being perceived as cocky or full of herself.  So, we were very surprised when she agreed to do a solo piece this year.  We were even more surprised when we saw it...she was cool and confident, no modest Gabby in this act!

Gabby also performed a duet piece with her dear friend Hannah, who has been with her at the Actors gym for most of her circus years.  Hannah is going away to college in the fall, so it seemed very fitting that they tango together in one last routine.  This was a beautiful piece of work!

I was always the kid in gym class that couldn't climb to the top of the ropes, so when I see how strong, confident and talented these performers are, I get goose bumps.  I am always grateful for the time that Gabby has spent at the gym.  The training that she has received during these past 10 years is a huge part of the confident performer that you see in these videos.  The Gym has become her home away from home.  A place where she can explore her athleticism and grow her self-esteem in a safe and nurturing environment, with people who have watched her grow up right before their eyes.

If you didn't have a chance to see it, you missed a great show.  Put it on your calendar for next summer!

Happy Birthday Eric!

On Tuesday, July 10th, Eric turned 45!

It is our tradition for me to bake Eric a cake on his birthday.  Last year he wanted a key-lime pie.  This year we went back to his favorite...German Chocolate.

Over the past few weeks, we have been teasing Eric about his collection of gifts that we have given him in the past that are still in the boxes, never opened, never used.  We threatened to re-wrap one of those gifts for his birthday.  


What do you get the guy that seems perfectly happy with a German chocolate cake and being with his family on his birthday?  All of the gifts in the past have been great, but obviously not that great, since they are still unopened.  We always bought him exactly what he asked for, what he thought he wanted at the time.  


This year we presented Eric with love letters from all 3 of us.  I gave the girls their assignments a few days before Eric's birthday..."write dad a letter telling him how much you love him and why he is such a great dad to you."  No eye rolling or mumbling....they wrote their letters.  I was not allowed to read them, they sealed them as soon as they were written.  I wrote my letter too and we handed them over to Eric Tuesday evening.  


Eric started with Gabby's letter "45 Reasons Why You Are A Great Dad."  I could see his eyes getting teary.  He sent us away so he could read his letters in private.  From the other room, I could hear him laughing as he read both of the girls letters.  I think they got their message across.


Our love for Eric is priceless.  It is always out in the open.  It cannot be bought, boxed, contained or placed on a shelf.  There is nothing of more value that we could have purchased for him.  We needed for him to know this.  There are times when people need to be reminded of how much they mean to you.    

Happy Birthday Eric...we love you!

Recovery

I am recovering nicely.  It's been great having my mom take care of me and the family.  I could sleep the day away and not worry about everything getting done.  I couldn't have had this surgery without her being here.

By Wednesday of last week (1 week after my surgery), I was so hungry that I was becoming very irritable.  Eric came home from work and grilled chicken breast for the family.  I decided to chop it all up and make it into chicken salad.  I had to figure out some way to eat something other than soup, yogurt and ice cream.  Ahhh....the chicken salad went down nicely.  No pain, just a little discomfort, but my stomach felt better.

On Thursday, I was starting to get some of my energy back.  I was able to have some of the left over chicken salad for lunch in a salad.  My mom made me scalloped potatoes for dinner.  Yum!

Friday, Eric takes me to the doctor for my post-op appointment.  She takes my bandage off and says that it is healing nicely.  All of my diagnostic tests have come back and my thyroid was not cancerous!  Yahoo!  She shows me a picture of my thyroid after she removed it.  The nodule was really huge, lumpy, and irregular in shape.  It needed to come out.  I'm not supposed to resume strenuous activity yet, I'm supposed to let my synthetic thyroid hormones start to kick in before going all crazy with the physical activity.  Oh yeah...I am cleared to drive!!!

Saturday, I'm feeling more alive again.  We go to a friend's house for a bar-b-q.  By 10:00 I'm exhausted!  the problem is I wake up feeling really good and fool myself into thinking that I am back to normal.  By the end of the day, my body is reminding me that I just had surgery a little over a week ago.

Sunday morning I wake up with a sore neck.  I tried to get comfortable the night before and sleep in my normal sleeping position.  Apparently, my neck does not agree that I can do this yet.  I'm achy most of the day.  I've started putting scar cream on my neck to help with the healing.  I've been instructed to keep the scar covered when I am outside, or keep it slathered with sunscreen.  I spend about 45 minutes in CVS reading sunscreen labels.  The picture above is from Sunday.  I keep looking at it wondering what it will eventually look like when all of the healing, both inside and out, is complete.

This morning (Monday) I took my my to the airport.  She's going back home.  I'm back into my mommy position. You can tell she's gone already...there are dishes in the sink, no candles burning in the house, and all of the flowers are gone.  It's quiet in the house today.