Which daughter will take care of us in old age….

Subtitle: steroids are bad

The story about my youngest daughter will begin….she’s an old soul. Antiques interest her. She quilts, she does cross stitch, she taught herself to crochet, she likes to cook, she volunteers, she buys fresh flowers once a week throughout the year and places them in vases around her house…you get the picture.

At some point in our “relationship”, I noticed she occasionally wore one of those nighttime eye masks for sleeping….and at some point (because we never discard anything), I noticed one of those eye masks in a drawer in my house…I’m pretty certain I didn’t buy it…it was probably left here or we moved it to this house 5 years ago.

I’m on steroid medication…approaching day 5 due to bronchitis and an ear situation that wouldn’t clear on its own. The steroids make me crazy! I can’t stop eating, I can’t think straight, words like “the” are foreign to me and I can’t sleep. I found the eye mask. Ah…so if I wear this and don’t sleep all night at least I might be able to avoid the morning light peaking in around the curtains and sleep later in the morning??

After much thought, with little clarity, I put on the eye mask before I “harnessed” up with the CPAP, put my earplugs in, felt around and found the switch for my bed side light, turned on the CPAP, hmmmm why didn’t the little light come on, jumped out of bed, felt around for the plug…it was plugged in….omg..turn on my bedside lamp, it’s not on, omg look to the left, I can’t see the orange clock numbers, omg the electricity is off, lay back down, doze off, wake up still no clock…doze again, wake up STILL no clock, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS OVER MY EYES, why can’t I see?……oh…the eye mask….silent profanity…omg the electricity hasn’t been off.

Steroids are very bad.

Until next time…

Mobility

We noticed this morning that the geese are flying. Feathers have grown back and our little goose family of 6 will be dipping their feet in other neighborhood ponds. I will miss their daily visits to the grounds below the bird feeder…but this is the time of year when I enjoy the cacophony when they are landing as they settle in for the evening back home. I’m also relieved that the 8 weeks are over and Thursday I should be released from the boot.

The weather has cooled, the cicadas are loud, he’s picking up sticks before he mows

And I’m just going to sit around with the breeze in my hair …. maybe finish my book “Loving Frank”. Well researched biography about Frank Lloyd Wright told from the perspective of his long time mistress, Mamah Borthwick. I’m now all up into everything Frank Lloyd Wright and making plans to visit Illinois, Wisconsin and Arizona museums and landmarks.

But for today….I’m enjoying the view from the deck and feeling grateful.

Until next time…

How I tamed the voice in my head

A couple weeks ago, he and I watched a Public Television presentation on Mindfulness. I felt for a guy named Dan Harris who was one of those unfortunate news “talking heads” who lost his….we’ll call it train of thought….during a panic attack while filling in on Good Morning America. I was introduced to the name, Dan Harris, now of ABC Nightline fame, but his story did not make or break the intent of the topic for me.

Until.

A couple days later, I went to my library website in order to find an audio book to fill my thoughts while making a solo 3 hour drive to Des Moines for a doctor appointment. I selected audio books and in the first of 14 pages of “available” audio books to rent was

I inferred meaning in the find under the label of synchronicity.

It is an excellent book…with humor, honesty and a lot of searching and/or research, Dan Harris puts it all out there as he “embarks on an unexpected, hilarious, and deeply skeptical odyssey through the strange world of spirituality and self-help….”. He met, interviewed and studied with some of the biggies in New Thought teachings….ie Eckhart Tolle.

His experiences spoke to me throughout the book but by far it is just a good, humorous read about life and walking and chewing gum….and meditation!

Until next time….