What is www.meanwhileikeepdancing.com?
If I had a dollar for every time someone said that I should "write a book," I'd be loaded. Well, I'm not loaded, but this is a start anyway. If you are reading this site you have probably been the recipient of one of my musings on life or little essays and observations. You might be inquiring about my health. Maybe you want to check in to see if there are any new pictures - or submit some of your own. Or, if you visit the last page, you can find some of my favorite links to websites that could make you the champion at Trivial Pursuit (a wealth of interesting, or trivial, information) , admire some of the artwork and talent of my very gifted friends or find a perfect little "pick-me-up" for yourself of follow a link to grab a last minute gift that not everybody is going to have.
If you are visiting this website, you probably went to school or worked with Ellen Payne or are contemporaries more recently of Ellen Osborn - that, of course, being me.
Depending on where we lost touch (if we did), you know I finished Muncie Central High School and began my undergraduate at Hanover College. I finished my degrees in German and Geography and did Master's Degree work in Urban Planning and Student Affairs Administration for Higher Education. For a few years I traveled extensively in southern Indiana, Louisville and Cincinnati recruiting prospective students to come to Ball State University. I knew I had found my "calling" and in 2002, Pipsqueak and I moved to East Lansing, Michigan so that I could start a Ph.D in Higher Education Administration.
What I've learned, though, is that sometimes when you answer life's "calling," it ends up being the wrong number. The journey or path you thought you were supposed to take had a major detour and you ended up taking a different exit. That's what happened to me - the roadblock was simply my health. I have had Crohn's Disease for almost ten years and for the last six have struggled with some very difficult complications of idiopathic gastroparesis and Multiple Sclerosis. What does that mean? It means that I can't go to work, drive, and have lost 100% of my vision in my right eye and about 65% in my left. I have a feeding tube inserted into my side that allows me to get adequate nutrition that I could not take orally and was the eleventh person to have a gastric pacemaker implanted in my abdomen that mimics the movement of digestion that I always took for granted. In fact, there are a lot of things about the human body that I'd say I always took for granted - until they no longer existed. As the years have progressed, conditions have manifested, and knowledge has increased, so has my appreciation for the amazing creation of art and engineering that is the human body.
While I cannot work, drive or eat - things that used to take up large parts of my life, I have found new ways to fill what would otherwise seem like massive voids in my existence. None of this would be possible without the help of my parents and brother (the little guy grew up to be a police officer and one of my best friends!), my extended family and friends and many daily helpings of Special K. No, no, I'm not endorsing Kellogg's cereal in any way, I'm talking about my husband, Kent Osborn. In December 2004, Kent and I were fortunate to be married by my dear Grandpa Sprunger and I am blessed to share my heart and life with Kent. The dichotomy of his gentle nature and wicked sense of humor delights me every day. He's there to celebrate the good times, pick me up when I fall down (literally and figuratively) and share a nice home in Avon, IN with our four children Pipsqueak, Squishy, Moose and Squirt. Hey! Those names aren't any more strange than "Apple!" (Really, though, they look more like three cats and a miniature dachshund).
So, consider www.meanwhileikeepdancing.com a way to "do lunch," "catch up" and not let the miles and schedules get in the way of our friendships. I encourage you to e-mail me any time and share with me the things that are going on with you!
Check in often and keep in touch.
Until then. . . |
