Answers

Only a couple people asked questions about me, so here goes my answers.

Has your loss brought you closer to your family and/or friends? So many are mixed on this so I was just wondering.
There are so many answers to this question! For myself and my husband, it has without a doubt brought us closer together. Sometimes I look at him and think about that song that has that line in it that goes, "And I thought I loved you then." Sure, we've had our fights and arguments, but everything that we have been through has brought us closer to each other then I ever imagined we could.

As far as family and friends, it's really a toss up. Overall, I have lost a few family members and friends along the way. I simply choose to end all contact with someone that refuses to acknowledge MJ. It's pretty sad that it's come to that. I don't understand how family, close family could pretend that MJ never existed. These family members (who shall remain nameless) didn't call and didn't come to his funeral, among so many other things that have happened since we lost MJ. The same goes with friends, I haven't even spoken to two of my bridesmaids since we lost MJ. One called and one sent a card, but I haven't heard anything from them since. And like I said in my previous post, I am in no way not taking any blame - friendship is a two way street, but at the same time, they should have been there when I needed them to - and they weren't.

The months just after MJ brought me further and further away from the rest of my family (except for my husband). I pushed everyone away and I just couldn't cope with how the world goes on, while I was standing still. It caused some relationships to suffer, because so many people just wanted to help me, but I didn't want their help, all I wanted was to whole up and remove myself from the world. Just in the last few months, things have gotten so much better. I am getting better emotionally, and I am working things out with those people that I pushed away. It's taken almost a year, and while I'm not quite there yet, someday I will be. And the people who still support me and love are the only people I want to be around anyway.

Do you work outside the home? If so, what do you do? Also, you are so great and I'm glad we have "met" even on such sad circumstances. Thanks for doing so much to raise awareness for CDH AND helping NICU parents!
I do :) I work for Friends University in Topeka, KS. I recruit for the associate, bachelors, and master's programs at our campus. I love my job and what I do. I think that education is a very important key to success and I am very glad that I can play a part in giving that to some people. I am also currently working on my master's degree in leadership and management. I have about a year and a half left in my program, which I am very excited about. It feels good to be back in the classroom, I think I enjoy it more now then I did in my undergrad work.

Since there weren't a whole lot of questions, here is a little bit more about me:
I grew up just outside of Chicago, IL, in a suburb called Mundelein. I played softball my whole life, and ended up getting a scholarship to Benedictine College, in Atchison, KS to play there. When I went there I thought it would be for four year, and then I would move back to Chicago and start my career. I never calculated falling in love and finding a husband! Willie and I met when I was a sophomore and he was a senior. We each took a class called Country and Social Line Dancing (I took it for fun, and he took it as a graduation requirement for his Physical Education degree). We got paired up as dance partners, and the rest as they say is history! We then moved to Kansas City, MO and lived there for a year before moving to Topeka and starting our family. We have two cats, Cammie and Charlie, and one dog, Lola. I swear each week we change our minds about moving or staying in Kansas! Part of us wants to move and get the heck out of here, and the other part wants to stay here and build our life. We just can't decide! I know that somehow, someday, it will all work out and wherever we go and whatever we do, it was meant to be. I always like to say, "If you want to see God laugh, tell him your plans." Life is so unexpected!