In early June, I was reading a small local newspaper of the town where I went to high school about 30 minutes from here. I don't get a lot of leisure reading time but I happened to catch this. There was a death notice on the back page and I recognized the name.  I continued reading to find out a girl I went to high school with had died suddenly.  We were friends and I had a sociology class with her. We went our separate ways and had not had contact since then.  She was living in Arizona with her two teenage daughters.  I found out, through talking with another mutual friend, that she had experienced chest pains, went to the ER and had a lot of tests run.  She was sent home as the doctors didn't find anything alarming.  Three days later she still wasn't feeling right and went to bed. She didn't wake up.  This shook me because we were the same age.  I am sad that her family has lost her at such a young age.  I want to do everything I can to prevent that in my life.  So, I saw the doctor today.    Because I had not visited this doctor in 4 years and my files weren't handy  (they have them somewhere else) I had to go over my health history and my parents' health history.   According to her, I am not at risk for heart disease. She did an EKG and it was normal. She gave me names of places to go for an ultrasound of my heart.  I've had that before and it was okay, so I don't expect anything new to show up. It only shows damage or any parts of the heart that aren't working or are enlarged, wrong shape, etc.  It won't show blockages, which is what I really want to learn.  I suppose you can't know you are really at risk for a heart attack until it actually happens.   I wanted her to send me for a stress test but she said unless she lies, she can't refer me for one since I don't have any real need for one, medically.  Of course, I don't want her to lie. So, I won't be getting that.  But, then she asked me more questions like have I ever had chest pains, "no"  and have I ever had heart burn "no"  Then, she said, "Come on, give me something here, throw me a bone."  She was looking for something, however slight it might be, in order to be able to refer me for a stress test. I had to laugh because I can't lie either.  So, the good news is there isn't anything she can detect as a risk.  But, I keep thinking about my high school friend who was in the emergency room with all the tests being run and she still died.  I guess we all have an appointed time to die.   Make the most of the time you have.

Oh, I forgot, about the stress test thing...she told me that my body being pregnant and and going through delivery is equivalent to the stress test.

  My mom and dad came over today to celebrate the twins' birthday.  They are three years old; I can't believe it.  Here are a couple pictures from the early days.  And then some from today.  We'll have them open gifts from my husband and I later tonight after dinner. 

Just 8 days old. They were so tiny back then.

It's funny to see their faces in these early pictures and know exactly which one is which because their features remain the same even though they grow up.   For those of you who know me in real life, look at how much hair they had at birth compared to my 9 month old daughter who is still bald.

Just a couple months old here in the crib.

Their baby dedication at church.

My dad giving them gifts. My mom is in the background hold Baby C.

These trucks are from my mom and they make lots of noise, just what boys love.

Cake to celebrate.

My children love balloons and my mom brought them more than a dozen to share.

We went to Chick-Fil-A again because they were giving away free milkshakes today.

S with my mom drinking milkshakes.

Over at the Chick-Fil-A website, you can read all about it.  They are celebrating Cow Appreciation Day on Friday, July 11th.  That's tomorrow.  If you dress like a cow from head to toe, you will receive a free combo meal.  If you dress in a partial cow costume, you will receive a free entree.  They have cow ears, horns, nose, and spots that you can print out on your computer, cut out and tape to yourself along with lots of humorous ideas for how to dress like a cow.   My location is also celebrating next week with Customer Appreciation Week.  Not sure if that is nationwide.  Each day they are giving away something, for example, Monday and Thursday, they are giving away free Handspun Milk Shakes.  Yum!