Foreword

Welcome to my new adventure!  Last May, I graduated with a Master of Music degree in piano performance, full of plans and dreams for my future: a summer full of performing, a position secured for me to teach music at the school where I did my undergrad, and long term plans to start a church in Japan.  In early August, my dreams never felt more alive as I participated at an international piano festival in DC and played at the Kennedy Center.  (It was one of the smaller stages, but hey, playing at the Kennedy Center is still playing at the Kennedy Center no matter which stage it is.)  My life seemed perfectly on track...until everything changed.

After I came home from the festival, debilitating pain began to take over my body.  I couldn't move my fingers.  I could hardly walk.  I became dependent on my husband for even the simplest tasks, like squeezing a tube of toothpaste.  In October (two days after my 31st birthday) I received a call from the doctor informing me that I have systemic lupus.  The journey leading to that moment and the journey following has been difficult.

My life isn't easy.  Actually, it's very hard.  Too often, if something is hard, we equate that with being bad.  But hard does not always mean bad.  Sometimes hard is just hard.  The reality is my life is hard, but that doesn't mean it's bad.  Even with lupus, my life is good.

This is not a blog about lupus.  This is more.  This is a glimpse into my adventure: the high and the low points, the exciting and the less than exciting moments, the times of grand revelations and of deep unanswered questions.  This is the start of something new.  Let's explore together!