Are you ready for it?

I don’t know how many comebacks I’ve had per se. A ton in my life. But my favorite number is 18 so we’ll call this one that.

Two nights ago, I went on my nightly walk with my dog, Tobey. We’ve gotten back into walking, hiking and exercising more lately. It always helps me break up my day and relieve stress. I’ve needed that lately.

I have been an athlete my entire life. I grew up dancing competitively from age 3 to age 15. I then switched to cheerleading in high school because Winter Park didn’t have a dance team. I wanted to be more involved in school. I wanted to have friends. I wanted people to like me.

I didn’t know people already liked me.

So, I quit dancing competitively. I tried out for the freshman competitive cheerleading team. I made it. I went to the meetings and the first practice. I’m not sure if I lasted a whole week.

The girls were sarcastic, snobby and a bit cocky. I was nice. I didn’t fit in. 

They were from my “rival” middle school. I felt unwanted and extremely uncomfortable. I felt like an outcast. I didn’t understand their personalities. I decided not to stay on the team. Okay, I quit.

But I also made the freshman football cheerleading team and I stayed. What’s more fun than a few practices a week and cheering on sweaty football players on Thursday nights all around Orlando? I don’t know. But I didn’t quit because I wanted to find out.

Fast forward about five months into my freshman year, the competition team was killing the damn thing. They were winning local competitions and even won first place in the state of Florida. I watched them, clearly in awe and a tad envious. I love winning. I always have…

I wanted a piece of that. So that spring, I tried out for the competitive team. I made the JV team. We conditioned all summer long. That included running, strength training, flirting with the football players who had similar conditioning schedules. It was a hell of a time, if I’m being completely transparent.

But it wasn’t all fun. I had to work too. I was taking summer school. I decided to get LMS out of the way. It stood for Life Management Skills. It wasn’t terrible. I always liked school. I enjoyed people. I enjoyed working hard. I enjoyed exercising and conditioning. I even enjoyed studying and public speaking.

I wrote my speech about heart disease in LMS. We had to write about a disease that runs in our family. The one at the top of the list was too difficult to talk about. There was too much stigma around it.

Depression.

That was not the point of this post. But that’s how my mind works, it wanders back to defining moments of my life. The moments that shaped me. That made me the woman I am today, the good and the bad and even dare I say, the crazy. I’ve been told I thrive off chaos. Sue me. It’s better than thriving off misery.
My comeback came on this night my dog and I were walking around our sweet, charming “small” town. 

Well, most southerners would NOT consider it small. Its’ population is over 36,000 and growing by the day.
But as being a surburb of Orlando, also raised in the area, it is very small to me.

We see and chat with our neighbors every day. Shoot, a lot of us even go to Publix everyday, which is only 0.6 mi away from my home.

I walk my dog along the Cross Seminole Trail and through the Winter Springs Town Center. I am a creature of habit. I know this about myself. Once I get really into something that makes me happy and makes me feel good, I crave more of it.

So I’ve been doing pretty similar routes lately. We’ve been working back up on our mileage.

We walked by the Town Center, where people are enjoying nice meals and drinks at Fork & Barrel. 

However, I have my evening routine and I need to get back in shape.

I had been depressed from July to February. Finally in February, around my birthday, I woke up and decided to stop feeling sorry for myself.

I have control over specific things in my life…Certainly not everything or even close, but I can focus on the things I can control. I can work on myself. I can be GREAT again.

We walked down the trail, cut through another local neighborhood, Jesup’s Landing. We walked along Orange Avenue. That street has unique homes that back up to Lake Jesup, the most gator infested lake in the country density-wise.

We made it back to our neighborhood. It’s hot, humid, I’m sweating bullets. Summer in Florida is here in full force. 

A car is about to pull into their driveway.
They patiently wait for me to walk by. But I don’t. I always feel I’m in someone’s way. So you know what I did? 

I jogged.
I jogged for the first time in I don’t know how long. And I kept jogging. Only for about five minutes. Still, it felt good.

I am ready to get back into running and the things that make me who I am. The adrenaline rush that I chase. The endorphins. The things that make me THRIVE and be the strong, confident, happy woman I was born to be.

I ran my first marathon on October 13, 2019. It was Chicago Marathon. I finished. It is a World Major Marathon. I got a star. I love stars! Gold stars are my favorite.

My next marathon will be TCS New York City Marathon. It won’t be this year. I have to start all over again.
But I will do it.
You will see.

I’m coming back.

There’s something magical about an intercostal sunset. 🌅 New Smyrna Beach, Saturday, June 14, 2025.