Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
“Don’t you get scared?” Yes and no, I think. Many things frighten me: a decline in my health, the loss of my spouse, something happening to one of my family members while I’m so far away from home. This is not what my mother is referring to, though. At 90, her view of the States […]
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November 16, 2012, I penned: Cancer, it turns out, it is a powerful proponent of simplicity. Faced with uncertainty, one is forced to examine the complexities of life and cull. Our lives are reduced to three priorities: – Making healthy choices – Caring for relationships – Reducing financial burden. Necessity demands that any extraneous commotion […]
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The English language is full of expressions that have more than one application. To back up – along with its many forms – is one of them. For example, as in my last post, backed up is a euphemism for excrement that is not following the protocols of natural processing – or in our case, […]
Read More“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. […]
Read MoreMy living room has beautiful big picture windows facing two directions, allotting me a full view of the neighbour’s front gardens to the north, and the constant comings and goings on the street in front of the house. Lying on the couch with my morning cup of tea is how I like to greet the […]
Read MoreLet’s spend the night in a Walmart parking lot, are not words I’d ever thought I’d hear in my lifetime, but here my husband was suggesting it with all the enthusiasm of a twelve-year-old boy. “Really?” But why? We were en route from our last RV park and had a reservation at the next stop. […]
Read MoreI had hope for the new doctor. His assistant said he is persistent, will get to the bottom of what is going on. After two visits, he has dismissed me. Maybe it’s my fault. I have been noncompliant. I didn’t take the pills prescribed. I refused a CT scan with dye. In fairness, the doctor […]
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“I’d like to be on the road by 10:00 am,” Ric told me the night before our five and half month stay at the beach trailer park ended. “There are high wind warnings for tomorrow afternoon, so we should be at our destination before they hit.” I had pushed myself the night before to get […]
Read MoreGone 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 […]
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It’s no mystery that stripped of all obligations and confined to a bed provides the coveted time to pursue writing skills, however; it is the actual experience of illness (in my case ME/CFS) that provides the platform for expansion. Although I have been a ‘writer’ since my early years, the past four have marked a […]
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One Woman's Quest II 