I am prepar­ing to leave on vaca­tion, but I would be remiss if I did not take time out of my evening to stop and give thanks for the out­pour­ing of sup­port I have received over the past few days.  Within min­utes of my last post, my inbox, com­ment queue,  and Twit­ter men­tions list were fill­ing up with words of advice, per­sonal expe­ri­ences, and encour­ag­ing bits of scrip­ture and verse.  Although I have had pre­vi­ous oppor­tu­ni­ties to see mem­bers of the fibro­folks com­mu­nity reach out to lift and encour­age, I have never been as moved as I was this week.

Since my first mes­sage regard­ing my last post, from one who has expe­ri­enced first hand the sup­port of fibro­folks, I’ve been brag­ging to my sweetie, my par­ents, and my friends about the sin­cere, and wise allies I have in the chronic ill­ness com­mu­nity.  My heart is hum­bled by your expe­ri­ence, your opti­mism, and your insight.  Although my back is still hurt­ing, I have been made able to bet­ter endure the pain.  It feels more mus­cu­lar, and less skele­tal. And I feel less aware of the pain, and more aware of all I am still able to do (and how blessed I truly am).

While I am away on vaca­tion, remem­ber these words of advice from my friend Benia Zouras, of The Table.

Enjoy what you can, whether it’s quiet time out­side or get­ting lost in music or mind­less tele­vi­sion. Try to have a day where you don’t have to worry about appoint­ments or chores and just BE for a while.

Last night I fol­lowed Benia’s advice and took time to just be.  I curled up in a comfy chair fam­ily friends recently gave Daniel (it’s rapidly becom­ing my favorite), made a half-dozen Genius playlists, and sang my big heart out.

While we’re on the sub­ject of being, head over to Chron­icBabe to catch up on the Be Here Now Exper­i­ment.  And, while we’re on the sub­ject of being here now, head over to (insert pre­ferred music pur­veyor here) and give Ray LaMontagne’s “Be Here Now” a lis­ten (you will melt).

And while we’re on the sub­ject of Ray LaM­on­tagne, I’m off to give him a lis­ten and get packing.

Thank you again for your prayers, your encour­age­ment, and most impor­tantly… your strength.  I know prayers are answered.  I know encour­age­ment is power.  And I know strength is contagious.