Take a Walk in My Shoes

I've been thinking a lot lately on the topic of perspectives. How our perspectives change as we get older, how perspectives and the ability to see from other people's perspectives is a beneficial trait, how perspectives can affect our day to day life and make our lives better or worse - for some reason this has all been on my mind since well before the holidays and I'm just getting around to writing about it. I think I will do a series on this topic so I can get it all out of my head and "on paper."

We'll start with how our perspectives change as we grow from being a child to becoming an adult.

I don't think all people take the time to really think about this topic but it can be so helpful in so many ways. For me, I'm hoping that remembering what my perspectives to different situations were like as a child can help me be a better parent. If I can remember what it was like to be a kid, that can help me understand my children better and hopefully relate to them more on their level.

For example, I remember a lot of what I was thinking at certain stages in my childhood and how I perceived adults and how I acted toward them. I can distinctly remember my thoughts and how I WANTED to act but was either embarrassed or too shy to actually act. And I can remember how I wished the adult would act or say something to make my situation easier. I am guessing this is probably a more general realization and that many people could probably relate to this memory.

Something more personal to my childhood and probably not something everyone can relate to is how my individual personality affected what I did, didn't do, behaved and interacted with others. For one thing, I was very stubborn. I still am, which DJ would testify to in a heartbeat, but I've at least learned when to stop being stubborn, or at least I'm getting better, whereas when I was a kid I didn't know that I was really only shorting myself.

When I think back to all those instances where I vehemently refused to do anything I was asked or told to do, I realized that really those things would have been really fun for me or at least produced a sweet memory. Instead thinking about it leads to a lot of regrets. I definitely feel for my parents who had to deal with their ridiculously stubborn child and I think I understand a little better now how hard it was probably for them to know that I was doing that to myself. They wanted me to have fun experiences and I absolutely refused.

HOWEVER, I have decided there is an upside to this. Even though I do feel huge regret sometimes for being that way, I feel like I am probably destined to have as stubborn, if not more, of a child because that's just how it works, isn't it? What comes around, goes around. And I'm sure my parents repeated that mantra as a small comfort when I was stomping my 5 year old foot on the ground in defiance.

So where's the upside?

The upside is that when I have my stubborn defiant little girl (let's be honest, boys aren't near this bad...), I will at least have somewhat of an idea of what's going on in that little head. And hopefully I can use that to my advantage and in effect, use it to her advantage and hopefully she won't have as many regrets when she gets older. 

Let's get one thing straight here before I end my discourse.

I don't blame my parents for my stubbornness. Or any of my regrets.

They really did the best they could and I'm sure they used all the tricks of the trade but let's face it, I didn't get my stubbornness from them. They are both very NOT stubborn. In fact they are often quite reasonable. So they didn't really have the weapons in their arsenal to face off against the tempest that was Nichole Spring Nelson.

My hope is that I can keep those memories,even when life becomes more hectic, and remember to "go to the mattresses," er, maybe "go to the crib" would be more appropriate here, and not just "fight" blindly when the going gets tough and challenging. I don't ever want to give up and I think remembering that perspectives are different at all different ages can help me to be a really good parent.

So there's the upside. There's always an upside in life. It's all about perspective!

Atlanta - Part 4

The latter half of our Atlanta trip was a busy one. We took in the Aquarium, the New World of Coca Cola and attended the game day festivities before the actual game for which we were in Atlanta for in the first place.







The Aquarium had a great variety of exhibits and I'm glad we went but at the same time I could have skipped it. There were sooo many people there when we went. You couldn't really take time to watch any of the animals because you were surrounded by people everywhere you went that were waiting their turn to see whatever it was. And my camera battery died halfway through. So I don't have any pictures of the 22 foot whale shark that we got to see or its smaller counterparts (and by smaller I mean, they were ONLY 17 or 18 feet long). That exhibit was probably the coolest and we were there during feeding time. I now have a better idea of how Noah was swallowed by the whale. Heck, he could have been eaten by a whale shark by the looks of things. When that whale shark opened his mouth to take in the food, it was like a vacuum sucking in everything within 10-15 feet of it. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately the exhibit for the Beluga whale was closed for maintenance so I would like to go back to the Aquarium some time when that exhibit is open and there are fewer people.

That night DJ and I were invited to a dinner hosted by a medical group in town that always hosts the medical teams of both teams during the Chick-Fil-A bowl. We took a big comfy bus with everyone from the UT medical staff and Virginia Tech medical staff to Maggiano's Little Italy where we were fed appetizers, salads, entrees, desserts and as much drink as you wanted. The food was delicious and DJ made some new contacts that will hopefully become useful one day.











On Wednesday we headed to the New World of Coca Cola, which was a tour of everything Coca Cola. It covered everything from the history of Coke to an animated movie of what happens when you deposit your quarter in the Coke machine to a 4D movie about Coke around the world to sampling Coca Cola-made beverages from all the continents to the impact of Coke on our culture. And at the end of the tour, we each got to take a bottle of Coke home with us that we had personally seen bottled. It was a great tour, especially for someone like myself that loves the Coke commercials and the marketing strategy of Coke. They really are marketing geniuses.

Finally Thursday came. Game day. At times, I forgot why we were even in Atlanta! But not on game day. There was a new feel in the air. People had arrived to the hotels and things were bustling. Don and Lorraine had arrived the evening before and we were ready to see the Vols kick some Hokie butt! But first we went to a parade that morning.





















The parade got us pumped up and then we headed to the hotel to warm up. Could you tell it was freezing?? In an effort to be as in the spirit as possible, we decided it was absolutely necessary to drink some Fuzzy Navels before the game. The Chick-Fil-A bowl used to be the Peach Bowl so it was absolutely necessary to drink Peach Schnapps before we headed out to the game. Oh and we ate Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

The next part of the saga can be summed up in two words. We. Lost.

Nothing more can be said. It was incredibly disappointing and I will share only one picture. A picture that shows the hope we still had before the game began.



To be honest, I don't think it even mattered to Don and Lorraine that we lost. I mean they definitely wanted the Vols to win but more than anything I could tell they were so proud to see their son on the field working hard and taking care of his team. If I would have taken their picture after the game, they probably would have still looked all happy. It was so much fun to finally watch a game with them in person!

Ok so that was more than two words about the game and I just have to talk about two other things. They had soap clouds that wafted to the ceiling during the game. They clouds were in different shapes appropriate for the game, like the Vols sign and the VT sign and the Chick-Fil-A symbol. And right before the game started, little stuffed Chick-Fil-A cows started parachuting from the ceiling for like 5 minutes. That was the best part of the whole night, even though I didn't catch one.

After the game Don, Lorraine and I (DJ had to finish up at the stadium) took the metro back to the hotel (best idea we ever had - it only took us 15 minutes to get back to our hotel whereas, if we had driven, it could easily have taken us over an hour). We were back just in time to ring in the New Year. We turned on the t.v. to watch the ball drop in NY, poured some more Fuzzy Navels, got text messages ready to send out at the stroke of 12 and started to count down! And just as it reached midnight, wouldn't you know, fireworks started to go off right outside our window?! Directly across from us was a fireworks show that actually was really good! We couldn't believe our luck! It was the perfect thing to make us forget the Bowl loss and really focus on the joy of a new year.

And that is the Atlanta saga. The end.

Atlanta - Part 3

I forgot to talk about this church in my last Atlanta post. I had heard about Christ the King Cathedral on Trip Advisor (where I do all my serious trip research) and decided we had to at least stop by and take some pictures. This is a BE-AU-TI-FUL church. If you're ever in Atlanta and have some extra time to kill, you have to stop by. It's in Buckhead, which is the nicer part of Atlanta, so the drive to the church in itself is fun. But the best part of this church is on the inside and unfortunately, I just couldn't bring myself to take any pictures. You know, people were praying, it was quiet and I would have felt really foolish snapping away on my camera. But oh man, I reeeally wanted to. (I took my in-laws when they arrived and my mother-in-law didn't feel the same sort of hesitation so I guess I should have just gotten over it and snapped away.) Anyway, the inside of the church is just gorgeous. I can't even do it justice with words, but I'll try. You try to picture it.

When you first walk in, you have to let your eyes adjust to the dimmer light and you notice that it smells like the incense they use during mass. The main front altar looms out of the dimmer light and you can see it is a large wooden piece that takes up more than half of the front wall. Everything is decorated for Christmas with red and white poinsettia plants covering the altar. There were two smaller altars on either side of the main altar, one held a big gorgeous nativity scene and I can't remember what the other one was.

It wasn't a huge cathedral but it definitely felt big. The walls were made of cement, which at first seems cold and stark but instead you realize that it gives the church a feeling of strength and stability. The ceilings were very high and supported with large round pillars that lined the side aisles. The pews and kneelers were cushioned with red material that showed signs of use. All that in itself gave you a sense of awe but then when you turned around to walk back outside, you saw one of the largest, most magnificent organs covering the entire upper back half of the church. The pipes sticking out looked like long skinny trumpets and it was bright gold. Centered on the back wall behind the organ was a beautiful colored stain glass window. It really made us stop and stand in awe. I so badly wanted to hear it play. I bet it sounded as magnificent as it looked.

So the stop we made at this church was definitely worth it and as I said before worth another stop to show my in-laws later on. They were as impressed as DJ and I were.

The next day, Monday, DJ only had to work a couple of hours so that gave us the majority of the day to explore. We had intended to take in the Coca Cola tour that day but when we arrived the line was immensely long, so instead we purchased tickets for Wednesday and walked around the Olympic Park across the street. They did a beautiful job building that park for the 1996 Olympics, and I would love to see what it looks like in the summer.

The CNN Center was on the other side of the park and we walked in to see if we could take a tour there but we struck out again. They were sold out till the next day. Instead we walked around some of the shops for a little while (I finally bought a UT shirt for the game) and headed back to the hotel.

That night we had planned on going to dinner and a movie but neither of us was really hungry yet and decided just to go to the movie and eat popcorn. We were very surprised to find out that the theater we went to not only sold popcorn but had an entire menu! And the theater didn't just have seats - there were tables with little buttons that you pushed to order from the menu. You could get whatever you wanted! It was probably one of the highlights of our trip. We couldn't believe there was such a thing and we had a great time ordering drinks (I had a glass of wine in my movie! Could it get any better??) and our dinner, which we ate while we watched the movie. I had chicken parmesan and DJ had beer batter dipped chicken fingers. The food was actually really good and they make the food as you order it so it was hot and fresh. We plan on looking for those theaters everywhere we go from now on. It was the best.

I have one more part - Part 4 - to share tomorrow and then the Atlanta saga will come to an end. It's been a great time so far!!

The Blues

As I try to get back into a routine after being gone for a week and then having company for a few days, I realized that I'm not ready for life to return to normal. I liked the hustle bustle of the holidays and being on a trip and having family here. I decided I have a little bit of the After Christmas Blues. I've been racking my brain to come up with something else that I can devote some of my time to. I'm drawing a blank.

My house is clean. (For the most part.) I don't have any projects in mind that I could complete. (Until I can start working on my office...more on that later.) I'm waiting for the library to have the next book in the series I'm reading but I'm third on the list so that might be awhile. I'm pretty tired of watching t.v. because I did a lot of that while in Atlanta and when we had company.

I think I need to start thinking outside the box.

I will inform you now that this, this unsettledness, is a Nelson thing. This cabin fever/after Christmas blues/whatever you want to call it when you feel the walls closing in on you and you just have to get busy with your hands and DO SOMETHING....it runs in my family.

Take my dad for example. Actually he is an EXCELLENT example. Every winter, you can bet gold on the fact that he will do something new and different. He'll take up a new hobby. He'll plan a trip. He'll buy new things. It's always something different. Every year there will be something to take up the dead time during the slow season.

One winter he decided to get involved in training airport security after Homeland Security revamped the policies in airports. That took him away for a few weeks at a time during the winter. Another year, he bought a semi-truck with the intention of helping my uncle transport cars to and from Denver and making some extra money. Another year he decided to buy the house next door and start working on making that into a lodge for the campground. Those are just a FEW examples. Trust me there's more. This year he bought an old refurbished 1960s or 70s (or some really old year, I don't know) pickup truck and re-energized an old hobby of researching old cars, which, of course, involves going to car shows all over the country. Him and my mom have several trips planned to Phoenix already this winter. I can't wait to see what my dad will come up with for next year.

But you know what? I really like this about my dad. I like that he has tons of interests and, instead of sitting around dreaming about what it would be like to do this, that, and the other, he makes good use of his down time and gets to it! And I like that I have the same desire to not just sit around and do the same ol' thing every single day. Life would really get boring I think. So I guess it's not really a curse to have this itching desire to always be DOING something in the dead of winter when there's not much to be done but rather, more of an opportunity to try something new and to start a new hobby or finish a project or gain more knowledge. I think God made winter, at least for the Nelsons, so we could be motivated to branch out in life.

That's what I've decided. Cabin fever/After Christmas Blues is actually a blessing in disguise. I'm going with that.

Atlanta - Part 2

When I last left you, I was just headed out to explore Atlanta for the first time.

Mission accomplished.


We explored it in and out. We first went to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site and saw where Dr. King and his wife are buried. There was also a beautifully done museum and gardens that you could walk through. Obviously the gardens weren't much to look at this time of year but the museum was really well done. I was very impressed and actually got a little teary eyed at some of the exhibits. That is a shameful part of our history but so many great people are immortalized as a result.





We headed over to the Oakland Cemetery to take some pictures as we waited to hear what our dinner plans would be. I had heard the cemetery was beautiful in a cemetery sort of way so I thought it was worth a drive through. We saw some verrrry old headstones and some very ornate ones. It was pretty but we only spent about 10 minutes there with me shouting stop and go whenever I saw things I wanted to take pictures of. It was a lot easier than walking around but I think 10 minutes was about all DJ could take.

Once we heard that there were no definite dinner plans and we were on our own, we set out to find a yummy place to eat.





The only problem was, we had different ideas in mind about what we thought sounded good so we spent a good long time "touring" downtown and everywhere else. We eventually ended up back at our hotel and ate at one of the restaurants there. Isn't that just the way it goes sometimes? Dinner was actually pretty good and I finally got to try some authentic southern foods. I had chicken fried steak, collard greens and a whipped mashed potato concoction. I didn't think I would like the collard greens as much as I did!



We happened across a car on fire during our "tour." That was cool. A cop came flying around us we snapped away on our camera. I felt so touristy. Oh well.

More to come on Atlanta soon!

Atlanta - Part 1

DJ and I arrived in Atlanta on Christmas Day after spending the morning eating Monkey Bread Muffins (which were divine), opening our stockings (which were filled with candy, mind puzzles, UT paraphernalia, makeup and the like...) and packing like fiends (since we chose to wait till the last minute, it was a bit of a frenzy and as DJ stated best, it was the epitome of over packing).

A couple of hours after we arrived, we were treated to a Christmas dinner of roast beef, turkey, tilapia, mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, green beans, rolls and the most wide array of yummy desserts that you can imagine. I can now say that I've had dinner with Lane Kiffin and his wife. Granted we didn't sit at the same table but who cares about the details. Details, shmetails.

DJ had to work the rest of the night and I contemplated what the coming week would hold as I sat in the hotel room surrounded by four walls that were quickly closing in on me, somewhat suffocatingly. I think I was sort of tired and a little delirious after not getting much sleep the two nights before and then not eating anything but sugar all day so I actually considered going home and coming back when DJ's parents arrived but thankfully I realized this was just the delirium talking and DJ convinced me that it would be best to stay.

So far, I'm glad I did.

The next day, I slept in while DJ woke up at the crack of dawn. He's not been getting much sleep since we got here. We go to bed really late (read: 12 or 1 in the morning) and then he has to wake up and get to the training room by about 7 usually. I, on the other hand, have been sleeping till about 10, lazing around, watching movies, reaing my book and finally showering and then investigating the activities around the hotel. I determined before arriving that I would be treating myself to a Starbucks every morning since there is one in the lobby of the hotel. I've gotta have something to motivate me to shower and leave my hotel room!

Today is the first day I've had Internet (unless I wanted to pay $16 at the hotel for one day's worth of internet - ONE DAY. Ummm, no.) and I sit right now in the Starbucks a couple blocks down from the hotel surrounded by loud teenagers enjoying the access to the outside world via the World Wide Web. I love it.

Now, I'm off to meet my husband and go explore Atlanta! I can't wait to explore this historic city - there is so much to see and do!

ANOTHER Maia Adventure

Yesterday I was sitting at work, focusing as much as one could two days before the Christmas vacation would begin, and I get a call from my husband.

Husband: Do we have hydrogen peroxide?
Me: Yes.
Husband: Where is it? (sounding a bit frantic I notice now)
Me: Um, uhhh (I was feeling a little pressure to recall something that I had no idea how to recall) I don't know why what's wrong? **kicking myself mentally and thinking why on earth I didn't know where the stupid hydrogen peroxide was**
Husband: (kind of babbling and not making a whole lot of sense) Maia was whimpering and I think she ate her leash and I came and looked and I need the hydrogen peroxide and where is it?

I proceeded to try and think as hard as I could without hurting myself of where I might have put that stupid brown bottle that was eluding us at the moment. Every place I suggested came up empty. Finally I said that he should call the vet because that was our only option at this point.

Once I got off the phone, I was somewhat smug at first that DJ finally "got" to experience a Maia adventure. Every other time I've had to rush her to the vet, DJ was either thousands of miles away or busy at work and didn't understand the level of hysterics that such an "adventure" can cause. Now he was getting a little taste of it himself. (moowahahaa)

Then I started getting a little tiny bit worried and the amount of worry that I heard in DJ's voice started to get to me. But I quickly squashed it deep down and told myself I was being silly and Maia would be fine. She always is.

Once DJ got Maia to the vet and knew she was being taken care of, he had calmed down a little bit and called me back. That's when he told me that Maia had eaten 3 FEET of her leash. I started getting worried again. What DOG eats her leash? What DOG eats 3 FEET of her leash? WHY Maia? WHY?? She never ceases to baffle me. I just don't understand what goes on in that little squishy wrinkly fuzzy soft head of hers.

They did a couple of x rays (and clipped her nails, took care of some other, ahem, necessities that I will spare you of the details, checked her infection-prone ears, basically gave her a little spa day) and sent DJ and Maia on their way. "The leash will pass," they said. "We injected some saline solution to make it really slick, so the leash should certainly pass." Oh, thank goodness. Once again we have evaded the dreaded "s" word....surgery.

We played with her. She was fine. Normal Maia antics, just fine. We fed her. She gobbled it up, no problem. We took her out to potty. Not a big deal. Everything was fine.

So we were a little surprised when this morning, I woke to the sound of my poor little puppy vomiting. I jumped up, yelled at DJ that Maia threw up and confusedly tried to put on my glasses and walk out into the hall where Maia was and turned on the light.

Yep, not a pretty sight.

She was sick alright...

She had thrown up all OVER her crate. One of the upchucks had produced part of the leash so I was still hopeful at that point. I thought that was probably a good sign since she was just getting rid of the nasty leash. DJ had a different perspective since the vet told him that throwing up was not a good sign. So we decided to watch her and see if she was ok after that.

No good.

She threw up two more times.

So it was back to the vet for DJ and Maia (thankfully, DJ had the day off today) and I headed off to work, quite sure that today Maia would have to endure a surgery. (Or should I say WE would have to endure the surgery BILL.) Sure enough, the vet recommended we do surgery right away since tomorrow and Christmas were holidays and the vet clinic would not be open so of course, we agreed and Maia went under the knife.

Thankfully after the surgery was over and we were debriefed, we found out that Maia is healthy as a horse. (As parents, we are always glad to hear that, of course. It's because we feed her only the BEST dog food, you know.) AND we got a two-fer-one because the vet was able to fix a hernia that Maia apparently had from where her umbilical cord had not completely healed properly so yay! The vet said it wouldn't even cost us extra. God bless you woman. They took out a LOT of leash bits. She had chewed three feet of leash into about 7 or 8 pieces and promptly swallowed them, piece. by. piece. How diligent. (I would have a picture at this point but apparently, DJ thought it was gross, even though I thought it just looked like wet pieces of leash. Whatev.)

So Maia is ok. Thank God. But I miss her to death now. She has to stay at the vet for observation for two days and because they are closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas, we can't see her before we leave for Atlanta. AND because they are also closed on New Year's Day, we can't pick her up until the day after we get back. So that's 11 WHOLE days until I see my baby again. **Tear** We did get to go visit her today but I'm pretty sure she didn't even know we were there. And if she did know it at the time, she won't remember because they had her completely drugged. She had an IV in so they didn't want her to mess with it. It was so sadly sweet. She just laid there and kind of dragged her eyes open every once in awhile to peer up at us with watery glazed over eyes. We petted her and told her we loved her very much and stroked her very soft head and then after just 5 minutes, we left. I mean, we didn't want the doctor vet lady to think we were obsessed or anything. Cause we're not.

So Maia will be kept in the recovery "room" for the next day or two and then she will be taken to the boarding area, where I will imagine them loving on her, and cuddling her and making sure that she doesn't bother her stitches. Basically taking care of her as well as I would. (No one burst my bubble here. I KNOW that they are going to do everything they can to make her feel comfortable and safe and secure and like her parents haven't abandoned her forever.) And they will give her antibiotics and essentially take on all the responsibilities that we would have otherwise had to do ourselves. I feel like I am getting a small glimpse of what Britney Spears must feel like. Just pay people to do all the dirty work for you. I could get used to this.