Operation Determination: Exciting news...

I am so excited to share that I am a member of the FFCrew for 2016! I have known this and have been participating in the group through social media for over a month already but I was waiting for my crew kit to come to share the news.

I am definitely impressed by what I have experienced so far being a part of FFCrew... so much love, acceptance, empowerment and support in the Facebook group and amazing insight in the book club (we are reading Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes... more about this in another post). This group of ladies is AMAZING and has far exceeded my expectations! The words on the shirt above try to sum it up but they don't even do it justice. I am honored to be apart of such an amazing group and can't wait to see what comes out of this year!

I have already made connections with a few local crew ladies . We did a meet-up a couple of weeks ago which was totally out of this introvert's comfort zone but I am so glad I took the chance and went... they were wonderful and were so welcoming! They made me feel a part of the group right away (they were all a part of Crew last year) and before we knew it two hours had passed. I am excited to get to know them better!

I got so excited to share this news that I guess I should back up a bit and explain Fellow Flowers.

I first came across Fellow Flowers back in 2013. I had just dealt with having melanoma where I had surgery to remove part of my ear and reconstruction of my ear. I was also training for my first (and so far, only) marathon. I came across these two pictures that had been shared on social media and they TOTALLY resonated with me.

I saw Fellow Flowers on each of them and got curious. I decided to check it out and was pretty excited about what I found.... their philosophy spoke to me in so many ways with everything that I had just gone through and I was instantly in love with the meaning behind the flowers.

"Twelve different colors all representing different reasons, stories and purposes behind why we run. They are the true words spoken and inspired by real women. The flower is a symbol of friendship, strength and beauty. It represents your journey – the miles and the moments. The training and the transformation. The realization that your body is strong, and that your mind is even stronger. And it unites – this flower is rooted in friendship. Reminding us that we are in this together – always."- Fellow Flowers

I started to "stalk" their Facebook page and website and learned everything that I could. I loved that it all started with friends and the Green Bay Marathon. That was going to be my first marathon and the whole reason that I was going to be doing it was because of my best friend. I had gone in 2012 to support my her (as a spectator) in doing it as her first marathon- long story short, she didn't finish (extreme heat stopped the race- mile 18 for her) and she had a mission to go back to conquer what she had set out to finish. After spectating we made it our mission to be there to do it with her... um, Fiercely United!

After "stalking" Fellow Flowers for a few weeks I learned that they were going to be at the Green Bay Marathon expo and I was beyond thrilled to meet them and get my own flower. The only problem was that I couldn't figure out what color I was. In the end it only made sense that my first flower be the orange flower. See above story. Fiercely United.

Over the past few years I have continued to follow Fellow Flowers on all social media platforms and I have continued to feel like they put into perfect words just how I felt. I have done several runs and races with my orange flower and have tossed around which other flowers I "was". I always felt like parts of the other flowers "spoke" to me but there were also parts that I didn't feel I fully lived up to so I stuck with my trusty orange flower.

Because of my flower I met an amazing woman at the Rock Your Socks 5K Run when we were in St. Louis for Scentsy Family Reunion and we keep in touch through Facebook to this day.

While doing the VetFest Half I got a boost of confidence when a man commented on my flower just as I was loosing steam.

It is amazing to me the power that a simple flower has.

Simply clipping it into my hair helps me remember that I am not alone on this journey or in my struggles.

Over time I have come to learn that you don't have to completely BE the color of the flower in that moment to wear it... maybe you ASPIRE to Be that color and that is exactly why you should wear it. Does that make sense?

I have branched out from my orange flower and am now the proud owner of several colors that I am working to embrace...