Dear Grandma,
It's official. I'm sick of winter, sick of snow, sick of cold. My friend Becky and her boyfriend Tyler are planning to come to Omaha for my birthday this year - and for once - I would love for there to not be a giant blizzard forbidding travel. If it does, I will likely be forced to drink wine and eat Cheez Its all night. Hyvee wine and spirits is only a few miles from my house and they sure do have a vast selection.

This Monday was a good one, Mondays are always good when they mark the end of a call week. And for once - for the first time since I have been working - I had a very slow, very tolerable call week. I only had 7 callbacks the entire week which is a record low for me. Casey and I spent a lot of Saturday at the mall and were even able to go out to eat without the annoying beep of that pager. So I can't complain but am ever so thankful that the stress and anxiety of being on call is over.

Jamey and I have entered our third week of marathon training, our long Saturday run is 12 miles. The longest we have run so far (at once) is 10...after this week we will almost have completed a half marathon. It's a challenge, it always is, but it's all a mind game. Your body can do whatever your mind says it can. And this Saturday my mind is telling me I can run 12 miles. Easier said than done, sure, but the feeling I have when I finish that makes me feel like I can do anything - makes me feel like I can fly. So please, Grandma, give us some decent running weather on Saturday...12 miles around a track is borderline torure. Anything over 25 degrees will suffice. =)

I'm planning another trip home - in March (with Casey!). Going home always makes me think of you, because when I used to go home I would try and plan in some time to see you. I got to thinking about how hard it is to settle on the fact that you're gone when I realized it's almost been a year. That's completely unbelievable, I mean, you've been gone longer than you were sick, really. It doesn't get any easier and that's the worst part. But I know that where you are now is better than where you used to be - so, I suppose that's what gets me through. I bet it's warmer up there, too.

I love you,
Kristen