Blue Willow

At a time in my life after a documented, critical medical miracle, I was the porcelain doll of everyone around me. My friends, cowrkers and church family handled me with great care. Two British army wives from the chapel took me to lunch at a British tearoom outside the city, where they served scones, cream and jam, and poured tea into Blue Willow porcelain cups. I fell in love with the #lovestory. "A boy and a girl were in love, but their families didn't want them to be together. They met at the middle of the bridge at midnight, and turned into doves. They flew away so they could be together forever. i've been collecting Bluewillow china pieces for 20 years. I've received boxes as generous gifts, and I've found pieces in antique stores. Last week, a friend moved his china cabinet to my dining room. My blue willow has a home. #bluewillow #usethegooddishes

BLOCKHEAD

You want to go to Mexico.
While I play in the snow.
I didn't like your best buddy in high school
And I told you to go ahead and go.
You tell me you discovered new music.
So soulful, I couldn't say it.
Tell me the artist and single and I
Thirty years ago on the radio played it.
You're no good for me.
You're too hood for me.
My brain needs one who is a "should" for me.
Your mind is too hailed.
You should probably be jailed.
I can't help you anymore.
Don't call me for bail.

The Crown Virus

I've been reading about and watching videos made of the Spanish Flue Pandemic of 1918-1920. How on earth did they get by that? With no modern medicine or social media? If one member was ill, whole families were dead in a day. Mass graves were dug. People were buried wrapped in the sheets they died on. We now relate so closely to these times. Some of us have lived through similar moments, and we're wearing masks. We're not going anywhere without our hand sanitizer. We can meet with our doctors via telemedicine, or Facetime. Most of the dead had "underlying conditions" and were elderly in nursing homes. As one of those with "underlying conditions," I've been something of a germaphobe since my East Coast internship in college. The rest of the world is just catching up. But, hopefully, now that the World Health Organization has put out a video on how to wash our hands, the planet will start doing it. A dot of alcohol rubbed on one's hands is not enough. So what have we learned? Three days' of groceries in the kitchen is not enough. It's better to be ready for emergencies, to help out our neighbors if they need to borrow two eggs, and a long spring. Puzzles. Because yes, that woman fed her husband to the tiger. Now start creating something useful. Rest. God created rest on the Seventh Day. We are allowed to take a nap. So we can focus on the puzzle better later, because it has a lot of sky or sea pieces. Live life.

Pushing a year, lifting weights and hawking books.

As the summer temperatures visit, my countdown increases. So close to a year without convulsions. *So* close. Thank you, medical science. Perhaps I should have stated, "countup." I hope to never have a seizure again. Ergo, I'm extremely careful with my keto seizure diet, and I'm back in physical therapy. I can legpress more than I've been able to since the brain tumor. Out of My Head finally coming out has been very cathartic, but perhaps a sense of too much completion. I have set in motion for myself a new project, and you will find out more about that soon. Thank you so much for all of your support!

Content.

"I like my life," she thought, as she slathered on face cream and climbed high up into her IKEA bed with her Macbook. "I fought for this." With forty degrees and dropping outside, and four layers of fleece on her bed, she would warm up quickly. Two suitcases' worth of t-shirts from charity events and radio stations occupied the floor at the foot of the bed. In two weeks, they would be sliced and pinned, ready to become another quilt. It was something Dad always said: "You know how to do that. You've been there, done that, got the tshirt." This family story evolved into, "Sounds like you're earning another tshirt," anytime something went haywire. With years of SURVIVOR shirts, radio stations up and down the dial all over the country, and a few extra charitable organizations in between, she had, in fact, earned the tshirt.

Let's talk about Love

Let's talk about Thankfulness. Ya know, I always tell you I was thankful for life pre-social media, because maybe we were more responsible with our relationships then. Maybe we were wiser about our behavior (okaaay, maybe not, but I had a Promotions Team to look out for me). I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for those friends who keep coming back. I'm thankful for the fact that you remember the song we yelled out loud as we cruised down the highway. I'm thankful for that time we went for dinner and grabbed one item at each fast food restaurant in town, because let's face it: they all had the best SOMETHING: I'm really thankful for the little things. The walks across town. The calls when you just "feel" like I need them, or when I call you and you say, "How did you know I needed you today?" Because of us.

Third Time's the Charm

I felt awesome after my second brain surgery. Awe. Some. I felt so awesome, I was ready to start businesses, nonprofit organizations, organize all of my friends' fundraising needs, and travel the world. I felt indestructible. I was unbreakable. I moved across the country and began new things, so unlimited was my potential. Then the echoes began. For a few years, they were like popcorn. Here. And there. Now it's an all-the-time worry. Again. Now, instead of just one medication, they've added another. And another. Now, since none of those work, I eat special food at certain times of day. I sleep a lot. My surgeon is waiting. There is no specialist in my part of the country. When they can schedule it, I'll get the call. I'll fly back. Scans and wires and hopefully he lets me have coffee. #OutOfMyHead