I had ideas about what I might share here on the blog this week. As a matter of fact, I have a backlog of so many posts that I’ve not pushed live out into the world yet. There’s no shortage of words saved safely on my computer right now. 

Then, the week blows right past us and it’s Thursday and I’ve not set anything in motion for the week. Not to mention, it’s been one of those weeks that truly blows your mind. 

It all started with a spontaneous trip to Nashville this past weekend. This alone was exciting enough. I thought I might write about our fun, impromptu trip and post our seflies and food pics. Because most of our trips revolve around cool restaurants, to be honest. 

I’d probably talk about “seizing the moment” and taking the trip when opportunity presents itself. I might talk about the cool hotel/art museum that we stayed at or about taking time to appreciate little details. I might talk about how incredibly fun it is to decide at the last minute to travel for the weekend and about how that feels very important in this season of life. I might even talk about how this weekend was a big one for us, for some very special reasons. There were all sorts of ways that I could have told this fun story. 

Insert Plot Twist 

Then, we had quite the scare on our way home from this little trip and landed ourselves in the ER in the middle of Tennessee. As we were headed home, Zach felt some chest and arm pain and that launched us fully into OH SHIT mode, based on his history. Truthfully, we just don’t play around with these sorts of things anymore. 

He pulled over. I moved to the driver’s seat, googled the nearest hospital, and drove 100 mph to get us there. Luckily, that new car of mine is a fast one! If you need someone to handle business under pressure, I’m your girl. I’ll save any freak outs for a future time, typically much later down the road — weeks, months, or even years later in some cases. 

Thankfully, everything checked out alright. He wasn’t having a heart attack and it could have simply been that his body freaked out when he noticed these two random pains together at the same time. We tested everything and stayed there overnight, just to be safe. As I’m driving home the next day, I think about how quickly we went from “fun vaca” to “ugh oh.” Our fun vacation story now has a different ending than I had imagined. 

Insert Plot Twist….again

The events of the previous few days are enough to make this story interesting on their own. Truly, we don’t need any additional flowery details. But the saga continues. Within 24 hours of returning home, Zach learns that a local 85 year old man is still missing from the weekend. It seems that he’s lost somewhere in the woods near his home and search parties have not been able to find him for days. Much to my urging otherwise, we’ve just acquired a new human tracking dog named Ruby, and Zach rushes to take her out for a look. 

When Zach first mentioned Ruby, I insisted that we did NOT need another dog. We already had four dogs, one of which is 120 lbs. We had not needed him either, but we brought him home one day anyway. It already feels like we run a small farm (more like a circus!) and I did not think we needed to grow this zoo we’re operating here at #magnoliaridgeLA any larger. 

Of course, Ruby is incredibly sweet and fit right in with the rest of the hounds. She always wins at our games of hide and seek, and I had no idea that we’d use her special training quite so soon. Within 34 minutes of arriving at Mr. Russel’s home, Ruby had located him in the woods. Most importantly, he was still alive and mostly well. (Zach tells the story of the search here.)

Zach and Ruby became local heroes in a matter of minutes and our phones blew up all day with congratulations and thankfulness. I’m so proud of them for how well they worked together. But y’all — there’s such a bigger picture to this story. 

Just two short years ago, Zach died and came back to life. It was a true miracle that the people in the room with us that day were so well trained in CPR. They saved his life and after a brief stay in the hospital, he left there with little to no effects from the event. To this day, we still don’t have a clear reason as to why his heart stopped that day. 

It was a miracle that he even lived and another that he didn’t suffer brain damage and that he was in essence, the same person he was before the incident. We’d been warned that when he woke up from the coma, he probably wouldn’t be the same. He might not remember us or be able to speak.

Not only was Zach’s life miraculously spared two years ago, it seemed like it had been spared again, just this past weekend. Granted, the pains and confusion we experienced on Sunday were nothing compared to the last event. It was still very scary and we felt very grateful once the dust settled there. 

The fact that we came home from a hospital stay in a town we’d never even heard of before, to Zach taking our new pup out and saving an old man’s life, leaves me in awe. Sometimes I look around and this life of mine and wonder — truly, how many plot twists can there be? It seems like every year brings with it its own dose of “WTF just happened?!” 

If you’re new here, the last four years have included a flood, a divorce, Zach dying, my beloved 100 year old house being taken for a fire station, 8 moves in 4 years, becoming a stepmom, and the list goes on and on. Most of these stories are enough to be their own big life event. And yet they keep coming! 

All in all, the life that I’m building currently is the very best one yet. The person that I’m becoming through the constant building and tearing down and rebuilding, is my favorite person yet. My life has been filled with so many things — good and bad, heart-warming and heart-breaking. All of it put together has molded who I am today. 

Some day, I’ll probably look back on this note and laugh and how little I know today. The way things are going, I’ll probably have navigated who-knows-what at that point and the new version of Pamela will be even more tough and resilient than the one we know today. She’ll probably look at this story and think it was “small potatoes” compared to what she’s seen. 

No matter what, I know that she’ll have continued rolling with the punches. She’ll vacation on Saturday, race her husband to the ER on Sunday, and then celebrate him as a hero on Wednesday. She’ll probably process the craziness of it all on Thursday and then get back to work on Friday. 

She, just like all of you, will figure it all out as she goes. She won’t plan too far ahead because plans change. She’ll take it as it comes and make the most of what she’s given. She’ll post her Nashville vacation pictures, even though there’s so much more emotion behind those simple photos now. 

No matter what she’s navigated by this point, she’ll still want to remind you that you can keep going when things are hard and when things change. You can figure it out. You can find the magic in the messy, and you can always stand back up when you’re knocked down. 

The person you’re becoming is the very best version of you, too. Each new scar makes you more beautiful. Each new pivot makes you quicker on your feet. You’ll figure this out, because you always do. You always have. 

Here’s to being heroes and heroines, whether it’s publicly with your new dog or just in the privacy of your own mind. As Nora Ephron said, “Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.“

And if you came here purely for recommendations on what to do while in Nashville, here’s a few suggestions:

Hattie B’s for hot chicken, my favorite — Puckett’s Grocery for that peach tea and fried chicken, Mike’s for ice cream (get the house-made waffle cone), and breakfast/brunch at Biscuit Love if you can stand the wait. Live music at Ole Red was fun. 21c Museum and Hotel was incredibly cool. Do the backstage tour at the Grand Ole Opry, even if you get caught in a downpour on the way. And don’t forget my favorite store in Nashville — OMG.