Spotlight on Stigma... Welcomed but Not Accepted

There's a gorgeous sunrise. The weather is supposed to be beautiful today. It's the day I've been planning for about 6 months. It's the last step before the day I've been waiting for since my divorce over 15 years ago. It's the day of the wedding set-up and rehearsal. Sooooo many hours have gone into planning the wedding - and this day. I've tried to think of everything possible for it to go smoothly. I've made list after list, arranged for out-of-town guests, asked people to help on parts of the wedding that I couldn't do (such as playing the music during the ceremony or baking for the reception... I'm not a baker!), made decorations, packed and re-packed everything needed... and in a few hours, we will start making all this happen. In the past few weeks, I've already had some big hiccups/disappointments (note that I'm not listing everything that has happened - just the most important ones)... - We had to get a new officiant. - The sign ...

In hindsight, I should have been writing about this journey all along. But also in hindsight, there's so much I wish I had done differently, not simply recording this time in my life. It's September 25, 2022... seven days, ONLY ONE WEEK (yes, I meant to shout that) before my wedding - the wedding I started planning back in late March of this past year - about six months ago (... about 180 days ...about 24 weeks).  *Keep in mind, that's planning the actual wedding. I had been planning my dream second wedding since I divorced about 20 years ago.* When I started, it was all fun. I had a blast making my wedding unique. Basically, I took all of the parts of a wedding, researched the traditional way each is done, and then found an alternate way to accomplish the same thing. There are all kinds of quirky aspects of my wedding - things I'm proud of coming up with: - We couldn't find a wedding topper that represented us, so we found Lego photographers. - Instead of a fancy...

 Any time I leave home to go somewhere overnight, there are so many questions... - What will it be like where I'm staying? - Will I be on the first floor/is there an elevator? - Will the bed be too firm for me to be able to sleep? Will it be too soft? - What will the weather be like? - Is the water filtered? - What will the meals consist of? Will I have choices or have to eat whatever is provided? - What kind of seating is provided? (Tiny seats like wedding chairs don't work for someone like me.) - How will I get there? If you've been a part of my blog for any time, you know that all of these issues aren't just because I'm a diva. Though not necessary, these legitimate questions and answers make a big difference in how well I do while I'm gone. Earlier this spring I attended a conference for professional communicators in a city about five hours from my home. It was a big deal to get invited to go as a freelancer and I was excited about not only learning from som...

So... the busy-ness hasn't stopped. I'm writing this much later than planned but I feel it's important to share. Today is September 7, 2022 and I'm writing this while in the waiting room as my dad is having a stint put in his heart. It's 25 days until the wedding. As of this point, I'm surviving. However, this post is about my surgeries and how they impacted The World Games - as well as how my ongoing issues affected it. First - my carpal tunnel surgery... As I mentioned in the last post, it took a lot longer to heal than I thought it would. When I scheduled the surgery, I knew that I would still be weight restricted (lifting no more than 5 pounds). I got home that day and immediately looked up how much my cameras weigh.  I wasn't surprised that my camera with the long lens is over the weight limit. It was about 5 lbs, 4 oz total weight. I thought about how I hold my camera and assumed, without testing it, that the bulk of the weight was on my right (dominan...