At fifty-nine, I was certain that I knew myself – accomplished, defined and established – but illness changed the framework from which my remaining time would unfold. I became a non-entity in my former career, and a ghost to friends. My children mourned the loss of their vibrant mother and settled into lowered expectations. […]
I haven’t stopped laughing since it happened. By the time we got back down the mountain and found a place to eat (and relieve ourselves), I could not contain my giggles. The poor waiter must have thought I’d lost my mind. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. If you happened to catch yesterday’s post, you’ll […]
“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 […]
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, […]
“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. […]
“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 […]
Eight days in – each day a new adventure. Our two year plan to retirement includes winding down my husband’s business, selling off all our home and furnishings, and hitting the road in the 40′ RV we just purchased. Never having owned an RV before, we thought it would be a good idea to park […]