To my Sparkle Lounge friends…This is a long read but I hope you’ll bear with me. Today was a very important day for me. And I wanted to share it with you. To celebrate with you. You see, earlier this year I broke my neck. A portion of my C7 vertebra was sheared off during a lift by the stress of my trapezius or rhomboid muscle pulling across it. Sadly, this will never fully heal. And surgery cannot correct it. What exists now is cartilage between two jagged bone pieces that will never fuse together. Forevermore, I will have separated pieces of cervical spine bones where there once was one. I wore a cervical collar for a few months and spent my days largely at rest. I slept upright. I was treated by a spine specialist in the Neurology Dept of Stanford Hospital. Yes, it was all very painful. And there were days when I wasn’t sure what my future held. A spinal fracture is no small thing. And this was my second one. At age 23, I fractured a part of my lumbar region in a car accident. And middle age does not confer the same forgiveness on your body as youth does. After four months, I was able to start physical therapy with a PT who specializes in the recovery of professional athletes (like SF Giants’ Buster Posey). My program was robust and aggressive. Daily. A few tears from pain and frustration were shed. A few expletives spewed. But I was determined to get back to the gym. No matter what that return looked like. And throughout it all, I was comforted by the gift of caring for my dying dog, Guava. She gave me a reason to look outwards, to focus on loving and caring for another creature. I worked hard to give her a good ending. And lest you think I’m nuts for wanting to get back to the gym, you need to understand that the very best way women can protect their aging bones is to lift and do resistance training. I did have a bone scan when this happened and I’m happy to report that due to nine years of lifting, my bones show no degeneration as compared to 20 years ago. Osteoporosis played no part in this injury. So back to why today is so important…today after exactly eight months, I went back to my gym to resume sessions with my trainer. My lifting calluses, so hard earned, are gone now and where once I ruled a rack, I now stand damaged and diminished. But, I made it back. And I’m so happy. And really very proud. Throughout this whole ordeal, my dear and magical friend Tash has been walking beside me. Lifting me up when I needed. Always making me laugh. Always holding a space for me. Always understanding that this injury fractured my soul as well as my neck. I am grateful to her for guarding my weaker side. And so it was that today, I made it back to my gym. Deadliftgrl is back from the lifting dead. Yes, I’m going to take it slowly. I’m starting over. Just days before this injury I had racked up huge numbers and reached an elite status for an amateur lifter. I was about to enter my first competition. Well now, I must compete with what I was in order to be whatever I will be. You all have no idea how you’ve helped me through this challenging time. I don’t do well with sympathy or pity and certainly not self-pity; I hope you’ll all understand that what I needed most from you here over the past few months is exactly what you gave me: joy and laughter. The bawdy and the beautiful. A bit of naughty, a bit of nice. And a full dance card in that digital conga line known as The Sparkle Lounge. As for right now, I just ask one thing: Wish me luck as I rebuild, will you?

Turning up the heat on Io🌋 Our Juno spacecraft has discovered a hot spot in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter's moon Io. Scientists spotted one of its most intense volcanic eruptions ever recorded—which says a lot for a moon with over 400 volcanoes!