January 17 - Hindsight is 20/20 Journaling Challenge

I really had to think about this one....didn't want to get too personal



journaling {359 words}: Looking back, there are some decisions I made in my life that I would change if I could. One such choice that comes to mind is the planning of my wedding. After some pressure from certain family members, we picked out the rings and decided we wanted to get married in the fall. After looking at some locations online, we set up an appointment and went to meet the event coordinator at Blue Falls Grove. I should have just trusted my gut and looked somewhere else. The coordinator's office smelled like a wet dog, was dirty, and she couldn't find the paperwork she needed when we got there. We should have just walked away at that point, but instead, we continued with the tour of the grounds. Since it was December, it was kind of hard to picture what the gazebo would look like once all the trees and plants were green, but we decided to just put down a deposit anyway since they had our chosen date available and it was fairly cheap, plus we wanted to get married outside. After several attempts to contact the coordinator about catering, I started looking into caterers that could set up at the Blue Falls location. Little did I know, we had to use their caterers who turned out being horrible. As I look back on our wedding day, almost everything was perfect. We were thrilled to finally be tying the knot, the ceremony was everything we dreamed, I had found a dress I loved, the wedding party looked amazing, the flowers were gorgeous, the reception was tons of fun, and the weather was perfect. The one thing that was so not perfect, was the food. There was not nearly enough of it! We had paid for more than enough food, but there was definitely not enough food to go around! Thank goodness our wedding cake was the best cake we had ever eaten! As they say, hindsight is 20/20 and given the choice again, I would NOT have chosen that particular location to have our special day! Maybe someday, we can renew our vows and choose the perfect location!

 

221 words

 

539 words. I'm usually so uncomfortable with journaling challenges but I knew what I wanted to write about here.

 

I ended up with 500 words! It would be awesome if we knew what rides would breakdown and could skip them!

 

Here's mine with 376 words:

 

January 17 - Journaling Challenge

kit: 20/20 by ForeverJoy Designs
Stamp Tramp Volume One: Basic Shapes by Allison Pennington
font: Bohemian Typewriter
3 brushes by Tracie Stroud (retired)

431 words
(journaling is copied in gallery image description)

 

When I do love my page, except for the journaling. But I am glad I did it. lol 291 words. And thank you for the link to the word counter!

 

Can someone help me understand! Does it have to be a bad decision or can it be a good decision that I look back on happily? @cfile or other pollys. I emailed @EHStudios but haven't heard back.

 

It does not have to be bad.. it can be good.. I wrote about my first car and not getting AC with it.. not really bad but a learning experience.. Do not think too hard on these challenges.. what did you do that if you went left instead of right it would have been a different outcome.. these kind of things. Good luck and go with the flow.. It took me a bit to think of the car but the moment you let your self relax a little reading the instructions on the challenge, it comes to you.. the hindsight 20/20 will flow from your fingertips

 

@cfile Thanks. I'm planning to write about how reading to my children was such a blessing. Thanks for helping me understand!

 

You are welcome There are a lot of parents that don't read so imagine how they would have been had you not read to them

 

Cried through the whole page, but very glad to have put these thoughts down. Thank you....
345 words

 

Word count: 465

 

Chemo: No one can understand what chemo is going to be like until you have to suffer it. You can read all the paperwork, you can talk to a 100 people, but it will never be as clear to you as the first time you experience it. If I knew then, what I know now… I would never have agreed to take chemo treatments. I will never do chemo treatments again.
Mastectomy: No one can fully prepare for what it will feel like to have your chest cut out, but you can talk to people and you should. I didn’t. I would change that if I could.
DIEP Reconstruction: The most common donor site is the abdomen, referred to as DIEP (deep inferior epigastric perforator) breast reconstruction. No muscles are sacrificed, no implants used and patients often refer to it as “natural” reconstruction in both feel and appearance. This requires an extensive surgical procedure. In laymen’s terms… it’s a tummy tuck and new boobs all at once. When it’s over you look like Frankenstein’s monster. You suffer sever never damage and while you can’t feel human touch normally, pain is exaggerated. If I knew then, what I know now… I would not have had reconstruction at all. I would have opted to buy prosthetic boobs so I could be any size I wanted, depending on how I felt that day and what the event was. The only upside is I no longer wear bras. I don’t think that’s enough to not regret it.
Other’s opinions: It’s hard not to think of others but in the end it’s your body. I would worry less about what other’s wanted or expected of me. I would think about myself and not feel quilty.
I am 5 years cancer free and thrilled to be alive but in the end I wasn’t going to die without these extremes. Hindsight is 20/20… I will do it differently if I ever have to do it again.

 

378 words