Chicago...and Flashbacks

We spent the last week in Chicago/Ohio/Indiana doing the "tourist" thing.

-We ate deep dish pizza (personally, I prefer my sauce in its proper place UNDER the cheese, but whatevs)
-We went to the top of the John Hancock Building
- We rode a double decker bus through tornado winds (literally, remember all the Tornados you heard about last week?)
- We visited family and ate so much food and laughed so much our heads and stomachs still hurt!
- We dealt with a few sicknesses (strep throat for me, a.k.a.=death in your throat, croup for Nathan, and Stomach flu for Mike.)
- We drove the wrong way down a one way street in Downtown Chicago...we are edgy like that.
- We got frostbite on all of our extremities at the BYU vs. Notre Dame football game. Can you say 7 degree wind chill??  Brrrrr.  And they lost, dang it!
And we had too much fun!

The first night we got there, it was like 8 pm and we were driving through pouring rain and wind (see tornado winds in above list) and it was a little bit stressful and then "Siri" who I thought was trustworthy, turned us down the wrong way on a one way street and we were screaming and Mike was trying not to swear and the kids were crying and it was an awesome moment.  :)  We finally got to our Hotel right off the mag mile in Chicago and I was excited cause I Priceline negotiated the price to an even $100 for a four star hotel, but when we got there, it was actually pretty crappy and SMALL and we were hungry and the kids were scared and...I had a flashback PPA moment.

Do you ever have "flashbacks?"

It would have been a stressful moment for ANY mom of three little kids, ya know?  But as those "scared" panicky feelings started to creep up on me, my brain immediately flashed back to the feelings and issues I have after I have babies.

So what did I do?  I had a little battle in my brain and... I won. I told those feelings to relax and I went into survival mode.  Priority number one, food (see DEEP DIsh PIZZA item above).  Priority number two, sleep.  We all climbed into bed and closed our eyes and relaxed and prayed and before I knew it, I was sound asleep.

Now, if I had been in the thick of things, if my PPA was in full swing, I wouldn't have won the battle with my brain so easy.  BUT, since my little guy is a year old and I am doing awesome, I kicked those feelings like Rocky beat the Russian in Rocky 4.

And I was proud of myself.

See, PPA struggles don't ruin your whole life.  You do get better.

Flashbacks may happen.  You may have a "down" day, a "anxiety" attack, a OCD moment, but once your body heals from you PPS, it will be just that...a moment.

So Chicago, you may have caused me to have a small moment of anxiety, but overall, you were an awesome city to visit.

Now just put your sauce back where it belongs...under the cheese!

- Over and Out

Do you ever have Flashback moments?

Are you in the "thick of it" and looking forward to when you are only having "flashback moments?"