Community

October 16, 2024.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I love my solitude. The silence of my alone time allows me to plunge into creativity. Some days I feel as if I might submerge and never reappear… I suspect I suffer from social anxiety, and when I am able to recognize it for what it is and step over the fear, I often discover […]

Guilt is a Crow

May 1, 2024.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I seem to be stuck in an unhealthy cycle – I push myself beyond my limit and then crash. I’m driven by expectations I’ve set for myself and then taunted by guilt when I can’t fulfill them. There is no room in this toxicity to stop and appreciate accomplishments. Guilt is a crowpecking at my […]

A Rocky Path

March 27, 2024.Reading time 1 minute.

When health takes a hit, the road ahead becomes littered with unknowns. After months of waiting, I finally got in to see a neurologist. Actually, the call came on the very day I was about to tell my doctor to cancel the referral. For ten years I have lived with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Diagnosed, that is. […]

Santa’s on His Way?

November 17, 2023.Reading time less than 1 minute.

I created this piece a week ago. Weather was turning, and I got inspired to make lists, and then, wham….Ric and I tested positive for COVID. Damn! The doctor immediately prescribed Paxlovid with a warning that it would cause a terrible taste in my mouth (it does) and likely affect my gastrointestinal system. No joke […]

The Eight Year Road

August 15, 2022.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Limping Along

December 15, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

Ruled out: COVID, heart failure, cancer, and blood clots. Twelve hours in emergency, under intense scrutiny revealed no answers. Symptoms continue. You need “restorative rest” the ER doctor emphasized. “Hire help if you can.” I suspect this is just another stage in my journey with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. The least amount of effort tires me, leaves […]

Wildlife Refuge Take Two

December 15, 2018.Reading time 3 minutes.

The sun is shining and as we pull into the office area, a flash of bright red catches my eye – a vermilion flycatcher. I hop out and aim my lens towards the bush where the bird has landed. A swoop of large, mottled brown wings cuts off my view. A kestrel settles in a […]

Self-Talk

August 8, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

What I liked about starting a new school as a kid, was the opportunity to change my approach to life. In the early years, I was known as a tough girl, a fighter. I decided to leave her behind when I moved schools in 5th grade, and focus on being smart. Instead, I learned to […]

RV-Able: A Question of Wellness

November 3, 2017.Reading time 4 minutes.

“I had lunch with some of your old colleagues yesterday and we were talking about you.” Never a good start to a conversation when your relationship to the mentioned parties ended the day you stopped working. “Oh, who?” The people mentioned are acquaintances, only one actually worked with me and it was before ME/CFS struck. […]

RV-Able: Creating a Home

October 11, 2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

Gone are the wooden window valances draped in heavy material of sage green and burnt orange. Gone are the matching upholstered dining chairs and the butterfly table. Gone is the small J-couch that once blocked the large picture windows on the passenger’s side of the coach. We are renovating. Since July 31st, we have been […]

This Life A Road

This life a road –the way preparedsigns to guide me,and still, I get lost. Construction, distraction,disobedience – throw me off –tendency to choose tougher routes,broken down and been sidelined And yet, the road still beckons,invites progression, thrills.A rolling stone gathers no moss,my father liked to say, and so… I push ahead, keep motoring,trust the obstacles […]

Wings

(Written during my bedbound years with ME/CFS)

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

May is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis awareness month. Also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, this disease is characterized by exhaustion after exertion. The exertion can be physical -taking a shower; emotional – worrying or obsessing; or mental- filling out forms. The best source of information about ME/cfs, as we call it, is the Bateman Horne Center. They […]