Before my one year lungiversary I dropped off a letter at LifeSource. Because the gift of life is an anonymous donation, LifeSource is the mediator who puts me in connection with my donor family. I sent my condolences and also expressed my gratitude for the second chance of life I have received. I explained how their loved one’s legacy lives on and listed many of the things I am now able to do. I included the fact that everyday I put my hand on my chest, take a deep breath, and thank my donor. I hope someday I hear from them and will be able to thank them in person. This was the second letter I have sent my donor family.

Before I headed off to LifeSource, my mom stopped by and surprised me with a gift for my donor family. She had knit a wrap for the family. LifeSource has a program called Wrapped in Hugs. It provides homemade knit wraps to donor families at the time of their loved one’s donation. She also knit another wrap for a grieving family that will be in need of comfort. Thank you mom, you spent many hours making these touching gifts. If you or someone you know is interested in knitting or crocheting a wrap for a family in need of some love, here is the link to the website Wrapped in Hugs

I LOVE CARTWHEELS! I have not been able to do a cartwheel in a very long time. I wanted to save the moment for my lungiversary. It was about ten minutes before midnight on the 27th when I remembered I wanted to do this. It’s a little dark but here is a quick video of my first cartwheel since my transplant. Trust me, I will be doing many more cartwheels!

One year and a day after my transplant I was able to do something I never would have had the energy to do the last several years. We hosted a party. A group of our girlfriends get together every month and we usually choose a different restaurant where we all meet. This party idea was hatched in July when we were headed to Lobster Night at the restaurant Lord Fletcher’s. That was the day the boat broke down on the way there. Six of us girls were on our way to meet a few others when we ended up being stranded in the middle of the lake for an hour and a half. We knew we weren’t going to make it to Fletcher’s to meet up with the other girls so while we were drifting, we decided I would be the host in August and we would have a lobster boil.

Since this was going to be a big deal flying in live lobster in coolers, we decided we should probably include the guys too. We had a good old fashioned lobster boil with 41 live Maine lobsters, red potatoes, Minnesota corn on the cob, polish sausage from Koshar’s sausage kitchen, cole slaw, corn bread, and we included a couple of cakes to celebrate Travis’ 40th and my 1st year with new lungs.

We got some cute decorations that included lobster traps and fish netting. It started with lobster races and it ended with good times!