May 29, 2008
Some days you have to look a little harder for the blessings, but they are there.
Yesterday it was back to Physical Therapy. I was greatly encouraged by what I did, but at the same time, the amount accomplished was so pathetic when compared with the condition I was in when I went there last time, much less when I had to stop due to the Dilantin-Weaning Year of Misery.
However, I have great faith in the people at Drayer and their ability to get the best out of me without pushing me into a lupus flare. Jim was able to see, for the first time, what lupus does to a person, when I was with them the last time. Now he has more damage to deal with, as I've lost quite a bit of movement and nerve response on the left side.
However that stubborn streak which so often gets me into trouble may serve me well here. I have a foot bothering me and my back, but we've had storms too, so I can't truthfully blame it all on PT.
Poor Steve's hips are hurting him, and I'd bet money Emily is weather forecasting with her tailbone (she's broken it twice).
So my blessing is that I was able to eat, able to walk and crawl around in the bottom of my sewing closet a bit. There have been days when that wouldn't have been possible, so Praise the Lord!
I feel better already. Finding those blessings wasn't as hard as I thought.
May 27, 2008
Oh what a glorious day! At least as far as I know. :) I drove myself to the quilt store. Sam helped me get the walker out of the car and I walked down the hill and around the corner to get there. I got gobs of new quilting motifs (the patterns you use for quilting a quilt) and the material for a wall panel to quilt when I go on my trip. Then off to Mom's to drop off Baby Brother's (he's 40) birthday gift and stayed to have a nice talk with Dad. Mom ran an errand and came back and fixed me a bowl of soup beans and cornbread which I hadn't had in a very long time. It was delicious.
Then I came home and rested, then took a shower and washed my hair.
My goodness! All those spoons used! (See The Spoon Theory...google it.)
But best of all, today we took down the Christmas wreath.
Why, you might wonder, did we wait until May 27th to take down our Christmas wreath? Because it was done completely in red, white, blue and silver in honor of Daughter's boyfriend who was deployed in Iraq at the time. We are very fond of him and in his honor we kept our red white and blue wreath up until he put boot back on US soil. Well our sailor boy arrived back in Hawaii after a successful and thankfully safe deployment. Praise the Lord!
Yes. A glorious day. (so far :)
May 26, 2008
After The Virus That Never Ends finally calmed to the point we could peer from our home much like turtles peering from their shells, the rain even looks good.
I picked it up on a wonderful, fun shopping trip in Lexington with Daughter and Daughter's Best Friend, in which we had the most fun time. Daughter's Best Friend bears a striking resemblance to Nicole Kidman, with the exception of the height. She's not six feet tall, thank goodness, for that would be hard on Daughter's and my necks, little squirts that we are. After the initial miserable time, husband and then Youngest Son fell to it. That was the longest lasting stomach virus I've ever seen
Daughter's boyfriend, a sailor, got a special honor that is not terribly common in the navy. He got a Golden Turtleback, or Shellback, or something like that. It's gold and sounds like a turtle. Anyway, it means that his ship crossed the international date line at the equator. It really is kinda cool if you think about it.
Oldest Son....I got to see oldest son on the webcam. Oh what a blessing technology is. His face is thinner but his body is the same. I'm sure it's the change to a healthier diet from his fast food, preservative filled diet here. He even bought his own rice cooker. For those of you who might be behind, Oldest Son is studying abroad in Japan for a year.
He and his friend Jon, a Brit went "nanpo" (I think that's right) which is the Japanese equivalent to picking up girls. So where did they go?
The train station.
I know. I boggled too.
But evidently in Japan the main hub of activity is the train station. Everything takes place there. Post office. Paying bills. Shopping.
So, being two young college boys in Japan, what did they do? They made signs that said "FREE HUGS". Soon, a young Japanese street performer with a guitar joined them, singing "Imagine". Oldest Son said they gave away about 30 hugs between them, including an old man who walked up to Jon and said "Go ahead! Do it!" LOL.
But the best part was that a girl walked up and asked Steven if he were Christian and he said yes and she said she could tell from the cross on his neck. She said she wanted to give him something and gave him a bookmark with a dried flower in it. The thing was, he and Jon checked and he didn't have his cross on, and had no Christian t-shirt on. Not even dirt in the shape of a cross. Interesting.
Today I have already thought about those who gave their lives for our country. My mind always goes to WWII first, then Korea and Vietnam. But there are people who paid that price last week. Families who are forever fractured because of the war in Iraq.
I think Saddam Hussein was a dangerous man and needed to be dealt with. But what's going on now...could it have been planned ahead? Are these terrorists determined to hate, no matter what?
I know that if we do not let them know the extent of our resolve, we have wasted US lives. But we cannot predict the future. Monday morning quarterbacking is easy to do. We don't remember often enough what Sept.11th was like. We show plenty of president-bashing...oh, and that calling him Mr. Bush instead of President Bush when they still call Clinton President just infuriates me, but we don't show the planes slamming into the World Trade Towers. We don't talk about how all the money given never made it to those people.
Waste of human life is the saddest thing I can think of. There has been no greater waste of human life than during wartime.
And there have been no greater acts of bravery than those who take up the flag to serve their country.
May 13, 2008
Over the aforementioned lovely weekend, one thing came up that caused quite a giggle. My Adorable Aunt, a vet tech, told us how her clinic had been taking in cats from a rescue type operation and was spaying and neutering them.
The first day they did about 5, then 3 or 4 the next day, and the same the next day, but one of the crates had a sign that read "Feral". She turned to the vet and said, "Boy, those Ferals sure do have a lot of cats."
We all laughed, as there are often words that get by us in life, but then my mother turned to ask, "Now Feral, that's a breed, right?"
At first, I didn't think she was serious.
She was.
*headdesk*
We're never too old to learn something new, it seems.
May 12, 2008
What a weekend we have had! First of all, my Fearless Brother's birthday is today. In my column, I used to call him my Fearless? Brother in a joking manner. He has since been to war and back. Now he is my Fearless Brother. Oh, I expect he was afraid. More than once, likely. But he went, he did his duty, and Thank the Lord, came home. So Fearless Brother should be the big 41 today, if my cipherin' is correct.
Over the weekend, I got to see my Uncle for the first time in many years. What a blessing it was! He looked like himself, as he is aging well, takes good care of himself. My fabulous aunt accompanied him. She keeps me in stitches both literally and figuratively, as she has a wicked sense of humor which is right up our alley, and she has taught me to quilt by email. I think my work mostly passed inspection except for binding. Darn it.
But I'll have you know she ripped a strip of newspaper off the sports page (who needs it anyway?) and explained what I was doing wrong and now I get it. She's a great teacher.
They have two little Jack Russells that are the most atypical specimens of the breed you could ever hope to meet. Much quieter and exceptionally well trained, they were just adorable.
You wouldn't think much could top what I've told you thus far, but Daughter received her Master's Degree in English with emphasis in British Literature.
That's two kids down, one to go, but Youngest Son is only 14. He's got time. Oldest Son wished me a Happy Mother's Day from Japan where he continues to study the language. I miss him, but seeing him do so well, even thrive at times, makes it all worthwhile.
I am a lucky woman.