alex viola | Operation Home

Hey guys! So, you’re probably wondering why I fell off the face of the planet… At least here on the blog anyways. I thought I’d pop in to give y’all a quick update as to what’s been going on.

I guess the lull started shortly after I published my last post. I was tweaking the guestroom and went to shift a piece of furniture (with my back not my legs…. DUMB) when felt something pop in my lower back. I experienced instantaneous nausea and thought “well, that’s not good”. Then, I promptly decided to forget about it and pretend that nothing had happened. (That works, right? 😉 ) I swallowed a few ibuprofen and went about my business. Two days later, I carried a heavy case of Boost to my car to bring to another clinic (I’m an oncology dietitian for my day job) and I felt that same area in my back scream in resistance. I knew I’d injured it for sure, yet instead of being smart and, ya know, resting or getting it checked out, I made another poor decision …

I went for a 5-mile run.

(I can totally hear that guys voice from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in my head right now “You chose poooahly!” (Sigh…) Tell me about it…)

See, my mom was keeping Lucas that night, so I figured that I may as well make the most of my free time and get some exercise in. And I reasoned that my back would “loosen up” as I ran. **coughcoughDUMB!!**. About 1/2 mile from the finish I felt these crazy shooting pains down my leg and it was all over from there. No sleep for days. Crazy pain, both in my back and leg. Really, really dumb. I knew better every step of the way. After two weeks of being nearly incapacitated by pain, I finally got checked out… Turns out I have herniated a disc.

Awesome.

So, I’ve been unable to do much since then, which has been extremely difficult for me. I’m one of those people who doesn’t stop moving and I’m very self-sufficient, so it’s been challenging/annoying having to constantly ask people to do things for me. And I still haven’t gotten used to “overdoing it” with just simple chores around the house. I’m 34 years old but feel 90 right now. Such a bummer. I’m currently doing physical therapy and just finished a round of oral steroids. The next step is likely an injection if there isn’t decent improvement soon. Ugh. I refuse to consider surgery as a possibility at this point. NO. Just, no.

One thing that I can say for sure is that I couldn’t have hurt my back at a worse time. It happened just a few weeks before an amazing benefit that my family organized in memory of my brother, Alex. It was the 1st Annual SSG Alex Viola Memorial Car Show.

My brother loved cars and actually rebuilt a 1968 Chevelle with my dad when he was younger. This seemed like the perfect fundraising event to honor him. And it was so, so great. Many of my brothers Green Beret teammates came into town to act as judges of the car show and they awarded these awesome trophies to the winners.

We had over 180 cars register and a over twenty others that showed up after registration closed. We’re still waiting on a few things (contributions and expenses) to be finalized before we have an exact number for how much we raised (and can make an official announcement, so consider this unofficial) …. but at this point, we think it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of $20K. These funds will be distributed to the Green Beret Foundation and Special Operations Warrior Foundation once everything is finalized. Not too shabby for our first go at it. We’re already stoked for next year.

And we were so incredibly honored by the support that we received from local businesses, car enthusiasts, and the general public. We’ll be posting pictures of the car show on the SSG Alex Viola Foundation website once they’re available, so check back there if you’re interested.

After the car show, things haven’t slowed down much. The weekend immediately after was Thanksgiving (fun, family, and a LOT of food) and this coming week we’re hosting a Christmas party for my book club, followed by Lucas’s birthday the next week. All of these things are great fun and stuff we’re totally looking forward to, but it’s definitely busy (and somehow doing it all with a herniated disc makes it seem way busier).

Oh, and did I mention that a week after I injured my back our computer finally died?? Like, stick a fork in him. Done. We knew it was a matter of time, but still… We’ve been so busy since then that we haven’t had time to even shop for a new one. So until that happens, I have no way of uploading pics from my camera. Obviously, this has been a huge blogging barrier. Hopefully, soon we’ll have a replacement. Hopefully.

Then, there’s the house. I feel like I’m such a downer lately in this area. Don’t get me wrong, we love our home but we’ve had so much go wrong over the past year that it’s become a bit exhausting. I posted this explanation of stuff back a few months ago when I took a “discouragement-induced” break due to the expensive, boring things that have wreaked havoc on our humble abode. Well, here’s another… Two weeks ago we discovered a roof leak in our dining area which caused this damage (in addition to more, not shown) as well as an influx of water to enter our home through the wall.

Ugh. We’re waiting now for our roofer to come and patch it, but to be honest, we’re to the point where we just want to replace the whole roof and get it done right. This is about the 4th issue we’ve had with roof leaks since we moved in. So, our kitchen renovation may be postponed… again. (Ugly cry)

With everything that’s going on, I’ve decided to continue my break until the holidays are over. Not that I have a choice until we replace our computer, anyways. 😉 I am, however, continuing to add home decor updates on Instagram. I do wish that I had better pictures from my camera, but my phone will have to suffice until I have a way to upload camera pics. It’s been okay so far, so I’m just gonna stick with what works and continue the Insta-fun. (see the Instagram icon link in my sidebar to follow)

So, that’s where I’ve been. And I’ll be back. No worries about that. I love blogging too much to quit entirely. So, stay tuned. And thanks for understanding. 🙂

I have to say that I’ll never look at Memorial Day the same after that day about a year and a half ago. That day that my only brother, Alex, lost his life serving in Afghanistan.

I will never look at it as simply a happy day to drink cocktails, grill out, and swim like I did before. A carefree day. A day off work. A holiday.

I mean, sure, don’t get me wrong… I’ll still do those things. I’ll be around family and friends and do my best to have a nice day. But now, Memorial Day has a whole new meaning to me. And it saddens me that I never really grasped it before.

From now on, I will do those things in memory of my brother. Because he died fighting to give us the luxury to be able to do that. I’ll do it as a toast to him. To thank him. To remember him. To cherish my family. To cherish my friends. And to never ever forget that these men and women devote their lives to allow us to continue ours in the fashion we see fit.

Here’s the post that I wrote about my brother initially. I wrote it as both therapy for myself and to put a face to a name. To put a story to a name. Because the more people who learn about him, the more he will be remembered. And that’s my goal. To help people who never met him to feel a bit more like they did. So, if you haven’t read it, I’d love it if you’d take the time.

If you’re looking for a charity to give to, consider donating to The Green Beret Foundation or Wounded Warrior Fund. Both are noble causes and were my brother’s preferred charities. I currently have a fundraiser going for the Wounded Warrior 5K which I’m running in honor of Alex, the link of which is here. We’ve already exceeded our goal thanks to the generosity of many, but I’d love to see how far we can go. Just to be clear, this post isn’t intended as a “fundraising post”. It’s for Memorial Day, so please don’t get the wrong impression or feel obligated. I just wanted to include these links in case anyone is interested.

So, please be safe today and don’t forget to remember our fallen heroes… The reason for this holiday to begin with.