And the winners of my November Superromance are:
Patsy L Roberts
Jane
Nicole S
Ladies, please email me on sarah@sarahmayberry.com and I will get the books to you ASAP.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing!
Original post:
I don’t want to bring anyone down, but I’m going to get stuck into a tough topic today. One of my good friends lost her mother to complications from type 2 diabetes last week. Her mum had had it for a long time but basically pretended that she didn’t have it, if that makes sense. She was overweight, didn’t get her eyes checked, didn’t exercise, hated going to the doctors, worked, worked, worked all the time. The end result was a slow but inevitable death.
In the four long years of her decline she suffered every imaginable complication of diabetes – she lost both her legs below the knee, was blind in both eyes, lost kidney function, had heart trouble, the list goes on. And on. My friend and her father nursed her 24/7, right up until the end. And the tragic, tragic thing is that if she had taken the time to put herself and her health at the top of her To Do list, three lives could have been very, very different.
Sitting at her funeral last week made me take a good hard look at myself and my own health. The reality is, I have a sedentary job – I’m a writer, I’m strapped to the computer most of the day. Like a lot of writers, I while away the time between typing vowels and consonants by wandering toward the fridge. And although I have a gym membership, I don’t get there as often as I should. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I know I could be taking better care of myself. This body I’m in will hopefully serve me well for many years to come – but it’s foolish to take it for granted or rely on modern medicine to come up with spare parts and cures for ills that I may create through my own negligence or indulgence.
The tough part about being healthy, I think, is making it a priority in your life. Making it important. So much other stuff gets in the way – the sheer day-to-day slog of life – that it’s easy to let exercise and healthy eating slide. So, my undertaking to myself and my loved ones this week is that from now on I will remember that good health is not a given, and that like all things of value, it needs a bit of time and attention in order to bloom.
I’d love to hear your own stories of inspiration or strategies for dealing with this issue. All ideas very welcome! And to celebrate the upcoming November release of my second Superromance (yes, not a Blaze, I know, but still a lovely Harlequin novel!!!) I’m going to give away 3 copies of Home For The Holidays to randomly selected posters. So, hit me with your advice, I’m ready and willing!
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(C) I am a type i Diabetic. I have had it for 29 years. While my kind is an auto-immune disease, we suffer the same complications as type II. I have had my fair share of troubles because I didn’t pay as close attention to things that I should have at times, plus I had a doctor at one point that should never have been a doctor. ;-( In my early twenties, just as most twenty year olds believe, I thought I was invincible. It lead me down a bad road and thank God I came to my senses. I also had high blood pressure and the doc I was seeing at the time told me “People my age didn’t have high blood pressure” Ummm… What? By the time I had enough and found a new doctor the damage was done and at 27 I had a kidney transplant.
(G) This was a gift from heaven because it truly opened my eyes the rest of the way open to all I have to live for. I am now, as of October 10th … 14 years out from my transplant birthday.
My point is, Always, Always ask for second opinions. Take your health care seriously and do whatever it takes to guard it. If not for yourself, then for those who love you and would be lost if something were to ever happen to you. Don’t just assume that your health will always hold out and you will always be there and that there is plenty of time to work everything out. Because you never know when your time will be up. Live every day as though it were the last you will ever see.
Hi Patsy,
Thanks for sharing your story with us. Type 1 diabetes is a tough disease and it sounds as though you have been through the mill. How wonderful that you received the life-giving gift of a transplant and I hope you have many more years to enjoy every day! I think being your own health advocate is so important. My friend who’s mum just died was telling me that the big lesson she has learned is that you have to be in charge of your own health, particularly when you’re sick – don’t expect the doctors to take initiatives, ask for alternatives and information and if necessary push them, she said. And I think what you’re saying is excellent advice – get a second opinion. It doesn’t hurt, and it may just save your life…
I totally agree with “Live every day as though it were the last you will ever see.” Perhaps it is because I am now 50 and have seen the wear-and-tear on my body through the years.
I came up with all sorts of excuses as to not eating properly and not exercising often enough. After all, I too work at a computer all day (I’m a self-employed typist), and we all know where extra weight goes on people who sit around all day…. Plus I’m in the sandwich generation with a MIL with Alzheimer’s who still lives on her own (so in beginning stages, obviously), and we have numerous trips to various doctor appointments, etc.
Turning 50 was my turning point. I had been on yo-yo “diets” through the years, but nothing stuck. Then I had all kinds of problems this year that took me five months to sort out. Luckily nothing was “serious”, but it was enough of a wake-up call to get my butt in gear. It scared the crap out of me, and that is what I needed to take “my life” seriously.
I have returned to not drinking pop (unless I’m out with friends once every couple of months and have a tiny bit of ginger ale in a Shirley Temple drink). Pop is what started this weight gain when my mom was dying, and I was on the road every day, travelling half an hour away to take care of her dog, house, bills, etc. I now make frozen punch (diluting it more than necessary) and have one glass per day at the most, but I haven’t had any in over a month. I drink more water instead.
Now that I can wear socks again (I’ve had numerous rashes that made wearing socks impossible for several months), I am walking on a trail in town. Mind you, I drive to go walking, but the trail is paved, there are no cars swerving near me, it is peaceful, there are lots of water fowl, and I meet up with plenty of friends by walking at the same time every day (first thing in the morning to start my days). I try to meet a girlfriend there at a certain time, as this motivates me to not “roll over” and sleep in instead.
I also play competitive sports weekday evenings. I used to play twice a week but now have upped it to three, four, or five nights per week, depending on how much my arthritic knees can handle it. I tell myself no pain, no gain, but in moderation. I KNOW when it’s too much, and I push myself now to hit that limit as much as possible.
My biggest problem was nighttime snacks, but I found that when I’m on the computer, I don’t wander upstairs to the fridge. I now plan on being on the computer later in the evening when the munchy bug strikes so that I no longer miss snacking in the evenings.
I might snack in the afternoon, especially if I haven’t been able to have that all-important first meal of the day. I consider an early lunch as my breakfast, my snack as my lunch, and then have my supper on those days.
The one thing I’ve finally been able to do (since being scared witless), after many years of trying, is cut back on my quantity of food. I don’t have “small dinner plates”, so I only put 2/3 of a plate of food on at suppertime. I eat more salads (with less dressing), more fruits, and more vegetables. I TRY to have less meat, but sometimes it is just so scrumptious that I eat a full portion (but not two or three portions).
It all helps. Walking doesn’t help me lose weight, but it helps my cardiovascular system, my stamina, and my sense of general well-being. I’d rather lose the weight slowly and not have hanging flab everywhere, and it appears to be working. I still have various health ailments, but nothing is terminal. That is what is important to remember when you have aches and pains and just don’t want to exercise.
I totally agree about second opinions. I have my own horror stories about a clinic doctor I saw this year. Every single thing he told me was wrong. I knew it and finally got in to see my own family doctor (after his numerous summer vacations). I took a list with me of all that had transpired since March of this year, complete with dates, and I read what I thought were the causes. He helped me confirm or deny most of those possibilities and he ordered tests to further the cause. He didn’t jump in with the wrong info but instead discussed possibilities I might not have thought of and how to eliminate those possibilities. In short, I knew my family doctor of over 20 years cared and would get to the bottom of it, and that the clinic doctor didn’t know me well enough to make a call on my symptoms.
Trust your own judgment. YOU have had your body all your life. YOU know what is right and what isn’t right for you. Hang in there!
If you can find a friend to share in your exercise, all the better for both of you. That in itself will motivate you on your “I just don’t want to do it” days. When my friend can’t walk with me, I take my trusty book with me and read along the trail. I get stunned looks from passersby, but it works for me. I feel like I’m killing two birds with one stone. Even though I walk a tiny bit slower, I am still out there doing it!
Good luck!
Laney, you sound as though you are grabbing that bull by the horns, staring him in the eye and giving him a bloody good run for his money (how’s that for mixing my metaphors?!) I think sometimes it takes a real rocket to put our health into perspective. We take our bodies for granted so much, but they really are amazing and deserve our respect and attention. The park you’re walking in sounds wonderful, as do all your strategies for dealing with your old habits. I read a good book recently called “Am I hungry?” which is about helping people get back into conversation with their bodies and in touch with the natural signals our bodies send us. The simple question they ask you to ask yourself as you open the fridge or the pantry is the same as the title: am I hungry? If the answer is yes, they encourage you to eat decide how hungry you are, and what you want to eat, and various other strategies for ensuring you are sated but also identifying those times you are eating because you’re lonely or anxious or bored or whatever else is going. I thought it was really smart advice to not think about the “rules” of a diet, but to listen to your body.
And I’m going to call my friend who just lost her mum and work out a way we can go walking together. Thanks for the tip!
My kick up the arse was when I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. I was just so lucky they found it in time (and it was just blind luck it was diagnosed.) If it had been six months down the line, I wouldn’t be here right now and that was what gave me a jolt. After reading the literature I was given and reading that certain types of cancer are linked to obsesity (mine) I realized I had played a part in where I was health-wise.
So after I got through my treatment I went to Weightwatchers and started losing weight and it is the best thing I have done for myself. The back aches are less, the sore legs and swollen ankles are less ( I am on my feet all day at work) I have more energy, my skin is noticibly better and it was all down to laziness and convience. I couldn’t be bothered to cook at night when I came home, so i would sling a ready meal or pizza in the micro…
I still have a ways to go, but I feel so much better about where I am health-wise and it’s so much cheaper to cook than to buy pre-packaged everything!
PS> Sarah, loved HFTH as always, you made me CRY! Waiting for the Blaze in Nov (Ebooks YAY!)
Sayuri, I’m so glad that they caught your cancer. I know ovarian cancer can be a monster to deal with, and it’s usually so hard to detect because of where it is and the symptoms. How wonderful that they found it and you received the treatment you needed. I know there are a number of “women” cancers that are linked to obesity – I believe that adipose tissue secretes extra oestrogen into the body, or something like that. Definitely I know it’s a risk factor for breast cancer. Excess weight is actually linked to so many illnesses, but eating is such a difficult beast to wrestle with because it’s not like giving up smoking, for example. You can’t just quit altogether, you have to eat to survive. I was reading an article the other day about how we are actually designed to desire energy dense food as having fat stores was a huge survival advantage in times of drought/famine etc. Of course, there is no risk of that kind of shortage of food in western society, but a lot of us still have these old survival imperatives working away inside us. In cave-dwelling days, we’d rock the house. These days, we get sick. I don’t know what the answer is, since keeping my weight healthy is an ongoing battle, but I think it’s awesome you’ve taken charge of your own destiny like this.
And if I can give you some advice from my own grappling with losing weight, invest in cook books that make cooking for yourself fun and interesting. Eating the same repertoire of meals is enough to send anyone screaming into the distance, so I always try to make sure that we get lots of interesting things to enjoy – new salads, and spices to rub lean meats in, etc, so that I don’t feel as though I’m missing out.
So glad you enjoyed HFTH. Yes, it’s a sooky book! I cried so much each time I had to work on the ending, it was mildly pathetic! Hugs to you, stay well!
Sarah, hugs! Health is one of those “of course I know what I need to do” but it’s also a “how do I do this and keep at it?” Fitness and health are totally marathon issues, as is most of life
I’m sure this is advice you’ve heard before, but mainly what works for us is finding ways to make smallish changes and then just keeping at it until they’re habits–I’m not great at making big chunks of time to work out, for instance. I just try to move more–park farther from the store entrance, be as inefficient as possible doing chores around the house (i.e., making multiple trips to the laundry room…), walk when I can (instead of driving), walk around the house while I’m chatting on the phone or thinking… (We read a book called Move a Little, Lose a Lot, that articulated this concept pretty well–http://www.amazon.com/Move-Little-Lose-Lot-N-E/dp/030740854X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254767738&sr=8-1)
And the harder part of me is changing how I eat–I’m just not a huge vegetable fan, but I know they’re good for us. My husband’s been good about making sure we have vegetables with every meal, and I try to make sure we all start by eating some. We’re not doing this perfectly, but we’re eating better than we have been. (My kids still love all their raw vegetables with ranch dressing or hummus.)
Just pick a couple things to try for you, and keep at it! This is for the long haul, so don’t be discouraged if things don’t stick right away for you–just keep on keeping on!
And thanks for continuing to write!! Cannot wait for your upcoming titles, Sarah!!
I love the move a little idea. The car parking thing is easy for me – my man loves his car so much we always park in the furthest corner of the car park as far away from any other cars as possible – plenty of incidental exercise there! And fortunately I am a naturally inefficient housekeeper, so I’m doing the right thing there, too. Who knew!
There’s a rehabilitation technique called “shaping” where if you want a stroke patient to relearn how to pick up the phone and dial, for example, you start them with a lesser version of the action and when they have mastered each stage, build them toward the complete range of motion. This is very similar to your suggestion, I think, small, incremental shifts that are doable and livable but when all added up together become a big shift.
I know I have a terrible tendency of thinking “when this deadline is done, and X is out of the way, and I’ve got Y sorted, THEN I’ll be able to really get back into my exercise routine and get a grip on snacking.” I was discussing this with my friend the other day and she said she had the same mentality – as though the disorder of everyday life was an aberration and there was a clear patch ahead where everything would be calm and orderly and perfect for instigating change. Well, we all know that life is just not like that! I’m not sure where this mentality comes from, but I need to kick its ass. Today is today, and it’s a good day to do something different, something good for myself.
So! Off I go! Lovely to hear from you, Fedora, and I hope you enjoy the upcoming reads.
Yes! I tend to do that too–to think, OK, when we get past Christmas or when we finish up the current whatever it is, THEN I can focus on cleaning the house or sorting those photos or whatever incomplete project it is… But there’s always a new crisis or aberration ahead, and I need to remind myself constantly that I need to start now on the change or project I desire… Sooooo hard to do! I think I have trouble breaking things down into smaller pieces that I can foresee reasonably completing!
Anyway, that’s right–today’s the day! Onward and upward!
Since I was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis I struggle daily to get around. Exercise for me is pure torture. I move around as much as I can but it’s not enough. Since I have been on steroids for my condition for so many years now it really makes it hard to loose weight. But I try. I’ll keep trying until I find something that works. Maybe after I have my knees replaced more walking will be possible. I will hope for the best.
This is a terrible condition and those steroids are shockers for weight gain. We have friends whose little girl is on them for other reasons and she puffs up in direct proportion to how long she is on the steroids. But there’s not much alternative when it brings you relief, is there? If it’s any help, my friend was telling me yesterday that a lot of the research says that what we eat is more important to weight loss than exercise. Not to say that exercise is not important, but I think the point was that you can still lose weight without running a million miles a week. I know fluid retention etc makes this a much more complex issue for people on steroids, but thought it might offer some hope to you.
I hope things easy up for you – and good luck with your knee operation.
I tell myself that I need to start taking care of myself before it’s too late, but when you’re young you don’t think about about your mortality. I try to eat healthier and use the stairs often.
They say that the reason young people are so reckless is because they don’t think about dying. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it certainly changes as you get older! But fear of mortality in itself is often not enough – the nebulous, general idea of it, I mean. When a personal wake up call comes calling, as it has for some of the other posters, I think it hits home, but there are so many things I know I should be doing that I don’t, even though I know it would be better for me. And lots of things I do do that I shouldn’t that are bad for me. Which just goes to show that the sensible, logical part of my brain only engages for certain activities, I guess.
Stairs are good. Maybe I need to find a building with stairs… Thanks for dropping by!
I have found the best thing that works for me for exercise is to do it first thing in the morning each day. If I don’t put it in my mind that something is on my schedule of things to do then it is easily put off but I have been exercising regularly in the mornings for several years now.
As far as food goes I have found that cooking and baking my own food allows me to control the ingredients. I try to read labels and I am always looking for new healthy recipes.
Hey Maureen. The morning routine thing is such a good idea – get it done first, out of the way, so that you don’t find reasons to avoid it later on. Something else ALWAYS comes up. I used to make a habit of showering when my man got up (instead of hanging around in my PJs all day, both the blessing and the curse of working from home) and putting my gym gear on so that as soon as the urge to do something gripped me, I was ready to roll. But maybe I need to take that a step further – just get my heiny up to the gym first thing. It’s a good way to start the day, get the oxygen pumping into my brain.
And yes, cooking from home is so the key to eating healthily. You never know what they put in restaurant food – lots of fats, I suspect, because most of it tastes so good! I actually really enjoy cooking but when I get stressed it’s one of the first things that goes out the window. Which is nuts, because when you’re stressed is exactly when you need good food. Sigh. I guess I’m my own worst enemy a lot of the time.
Ta for the tips!
this is a subject close to my heart. Diabetes is the family curse. At 40 I was told my blood sugar was high so I went to WeightWatchers (the advice earlier from Sayuri was spot on), lost 25 lbs and the levels improved for years.
then, like Laney I ran into a year (actually 2) of stress related to family and dementia and well, all kinds of depressing, stressful things. (oh! the middle years of life- who knew they could be so — um—stressful. I feel you, Laney…I really do.)
I’m now right back up with my sugar levels…b/c I’ve added weight due to stress eating. sigh…back to WeightWatchers I go. And I’m back at yoga too, for flexibility and after I lost my old dog in the spring, got a pup who demands walks all the time.
We have to take charge of our activity, food intake…even our thoughts. Depressing ones only increase our stress (going for walks with friends is excellent)
I only popped in here for amoment to check out the blog and got caught in all these stories and issues. In truth, what we have here is a recipe for good health and I hope we all take some good pointers away from this.
I’m sorry about friend’s mother, Sarah…this is a wake up call and I hope your friend takes her own health to heart.
Good health and cheers to you all for taking charge!
Bonnie
Hey Bonnie, thanks for dropping by. Diabetes is the scourge of the western world. My father has type 2, as does my partner’s father, and his aunt and uncle. There are some terrible predictions for the increasing incidence over the next 20 years as the population ages and we all gain weight.
As I said above, the whole weight thing is such a tough issue, but given that so many people struggle with it, I at least don’t feel quite so resentful as I used to about missing out on “treats”. One of my big internal whines when I was being careful with what I ate used to be “it’s not fair, why do I have to miss out while everyone else gets to have big chunks of birthday cake?” (I have a highly developed sense of “It’s not fair!” syndrome. I’m firmly convinced that inside me there is an eight year old girl, desperately trying to get out so she can go play with her Barbie). The reality is that lots of other people have to miss out, too, and that it’s a rare person who can eat a bunch of crap all the time and not suffer for it. I’m not sure what the moral of this is- misery loves company? Maybe! But it’s nice to know that we’re not all alone in our human frailties.
Hope you’re enjoying your puppy – I am gagging to get a dog once we return to Australia and have a house of our own again. Or should I say panting…?
How about writing on the run, literally. Take a tape recorder with you as you walk or jog around the neighborhood and as ideas come to you, record them. As far as people seeing you doing this, I wouldn’t worry, I’m sure they’ve seen much stranger. lol
Also, that way you can get your exercise without losing valuable writing time.
Deidre
You know, I like this idea because it would add to the eccentric cachet I’m trying to develop as I head toward middle age – dictating a Blaze while out walking would have to score big points in that direction. Unfortunately, my brain only communicates with the outside world via my fingertips – the idea of dictating my books just doesn’t work for me. Although, again, the idea of lying on a chaise lounge patting my small fluffy dog and wearing lots of pink feathery wear while talking to a tape recorder/dictation secretary is also quite appealing. Maybe I should try and retrain my brain. Anything’s possible, right?
Hmmm. Look at that – I took your good, exercise supporting idea and made it sedentary toward the end there. Now, that’s a gift!
It’s so hard to work out and exercise on a daily or regular basis. I myself am guilty of not working out. I’ve always heard that working out with a buddy is a good idea. I should take my own advice and find a friend to work out with. I think, nowadays, there are a lot of healthy food that tastes good, so it’s a matter of choosing that over the “bad” stuff. I don’t think one should deny oneself of a treat once in a while, though. It’s when we do that that we sometimes go a little overboard and gorge on junk food. Everything in moderation, right? By the way, love your books, Sarah!
Hi Diana, glad you’re enjoying the reading. Yes, it’s true there are a lot of healthy foods out there – although I also think in a way they’re the foods that have been there all along. I try to eat foods as close to their natural form as possible – ie fruit and veg, meat, unprocessed grains. We don’t get a lot pre-packaged or frozen food. There’s a new documentary coming out here soon in NZ called Food Inc and in the trailer they talk about the huge increase in products on supermarket shelves since the 1950s – I think they say the average supermarket has on average 47000 products. That’s a lot of opportunities to indulge!!!
I totally agree on moderation, however – a little bit of what you fancy, as my Gran always said!
My mom has type 2 diabetes and that motivated me to become healthier. I was really overweight and not eating right. Now 2 and half years later I’m 103 pounds lighter and my diet had a big overhaul. It was very hard to change everything, but seeing how much I weighed and how it could affect my health pushed me. I didn’t want to get diabetes or any other health problems. Now I feel great about myself and I feel a whole lot better. Things that used to make me winded don’t, it’s a great feeling.
Good Luck and I know you can do it!
Hey Nicole,
You sound like you’ve got this thing beat – good on you. Taking charge of your own destiny is a powerful, powerful thing. And I’m off to the gym tonight with my man, and we have a yummy salad with lean meat planned for dinner, so it’s all looking good for today. I think as long as I plan ahead, I should be able to get myself into some kind of routine. I actually really like routine, too – deep at heart, I’m a nester, so I think once I get myself sorted I’ll be good. And the more I think about it, the more I like this morning exercise idea. Make it part of my schedule – wake up, breakfast, shower, exercise, start the working day. Hopefully it will mean I bring good energy to the writing, too. Shall have to see. Thanks for sharing!
i can relate to your friends story. Half my family is diabetics. My father was a type 1 diabetic who never took care of his sugar until they started takeing parts of his feet, then he was a hawk watching his sugar, and eating on a very strict schedule. Eventually he lost both legs to the knees, one just below. Of course this whole time he refused to quit smoking, another loaded gun ontop of the diabtes. Last year he was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, he passed away six months later.
Its been a year since his death, and still hard to imagine him gone.
My brother is type one as well, and does good with his _but could do better!
My grandmother, uncle and now mother are all type 2, and are trying to control with diet and meds.
I have been every luck as that my sugar is perfect. My knees are another issue. I’m overweight, have been all my life and at 41 was told to lose half my weight to put off a knee replacement. Boy did that suck. I have no willpower and suck at diets.
I found a program my husband and i are tryin and its working, its not a diet its a way of life. Its the food lovers program, you eat every three hours, eat right portions and combinations of food. So far i’ve lost ten pounds in three weeks, so it works. It’s just changin little things at a time till it becomes a habit.
Now i just need to add in more exercise, and it will come off better.
main ting is, just get up and do it. It will become a habit eventually.
good luck, jody
Hi Jody. So sorry to hear about your father’s tough journey. Sounds like you’re very lucky with your own blood sugars. My friend has been diagnosed as glucose intolerant, or pre-diabetes, so she knows that she needs to really get her a into g and lose some weight. She was doing okay for a long time, but in the last year has put on weight. I feel very badly for her, knowing myself how hard it is to shift extra pounds. It sounds like your food lovers program is good. Being a food lover myself, I am liking the name all on it’s own! There’s a well known comedian in australia who has recently lost a lot of weight on Jenny Craig, and she was talking on the television the other night about how it takes years to form bad habits, and we need to be gentle with ourselves when trying to reshape them – ie if you have a not so great day, it’s not the end of the world. She said something like “it took years to get as big as I got, and it’s going to take time for me to form a new relationship with food and my body”. I thought it was good advice because so often we concentrate on the losing weight part and not on what happens after. If you don’t change your lifestyle, it’s so easy to slip back into old habits once the “discipline” of the diet has lapsed. Good luck with your journey!
Hi Sarah:
I just toured a gym today!
The best luck I had dieting was doing the Biggest Loser at work. We each put in $10.00 each – then after eight weeks the top 3 who lost the highest % of weight won the pot. I lost 12 pounds but missed 3rd place by .05%.
But I was happy anyway. I ended up writing a short story about a woman who lost ‘the biggest loser’ but won the guy who got 3rd place. Won honorable mention in a contest.
Anyway, going to sign up for the gym membership – lose some weight and maybe get book fodder for future use.
Oh, losing weight is endless fodder for romance. I actually have a book in my bottom drawer at the moment that I’m still tweaking on this very subject… Happy writing, Liz, and lovely to see you. And go join that gym!!!
And the winners of my November Superromance are:
Patsy L Roberts
Jane
Nicole S
Ladies, please email me on sarah@sarahmayberry.com and I will get the books to you ASAP.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing!
Thanks for picking me! Sent my email.
Congrats to Jane and Patsy!!