Heptadecagon

A simple list can be so crucial these days. A reminder of what to do, where she's been, what needs to be done next week. Much like her, I've always used lists. I gain joy from marking off each item as I accomplish it. But my lists and her lists are so vastly different, so far from one another, it pains me to think about those differences. List 1: pasta, mushrooms A seemingly innocuous list, unless you know that it serves as a reminder of what she currently has on the stove for dinner that night. List 2: Granite City, Belleville, Troy, Bloomfield A list of cities but also a way of remembering where she's lived since having been married. List 3: M, Feb 8, 70 years old; T, Aug 20, 80 years old The most powerful list of all...the one that speaks volumes and brings tears to my eyes...the one that indicates she isn't sure when her birthday is or how many years she's had on this earth. I look at her, washing dishes at the sink for the sixth time that day. I ...

Took this from FRN, who shared it with me...

With that title, I've forced the Meghan Trainor song into my head. But by the time the kids make you read this post, that song will be considered ancient and the link might not work. So trust me, the song (Dear Future Husband) is pretty catchy, but it's not your favorite. What is your favorite song? You don't have one, but you lean toward 80s pop (I know, I know. I can't believe it, either.) and you love Pachelbel's Canon (good choice, by the way). Ask the kids anything else about you, or go back and read your blog posts. You're pretty much an open book. Especially these days. And that's because you've got a lot going on in your life right now. You teach, you write, you edit, you mom, you read, you're trying to get back into running after that seemingly harmless injury (in which you really have no idea what you did wrong), and most recently, you're trying to take care of your folks. From your home four hours south of them. In fact, Zoe said to...

Have you ever seen a wordle ? It's a group of related words that form what's called a word cloud . That word cloud can be used to convey a message. Right now, my mind is experiencing an overload, and if I could take a picture of what's inhabiting my brain, the thoughts inside would form a wordle. No kidding. But since I don't have time to make my own wordle (and my computer needs another plugin to make it so), I thought I'd see what's out there in terms of good wordles that describe my week. I found a not-so-positive example when I Googled aging wordles : And then, because I didn't want to focus on the negative, I searched for happy wordles and found this: In order to get to the happy wordle place in my brain, however, I will need to do this:

Dear Dad, It's been quite the month for you, hasn't it? A little spill. A bit of shingles. Some weakness and blurry vision. Your diabetes seems under control most of the time, but other things about your body seem to speak that not all is right with your world. And so here you are, sitting in rehab, and I'm hoping to keep you there. I have to be honest and say that I am not worried about you . You've proven that you are relatively healthy and strong and I truly believe that you will recover, if you give yourself enough time. If you work with the physical therapists. If you don't push yourself to go home before your body is ready. I also have to be honest and tell you that the reason I don't want you to push yourself to go home is that you can't go home. Okay, well, really--you can go home. You can get there, you can sit at home, you can convalesce there, even though I think it will take you longer to do so. But if you go home, you will be doing Mom an ...

WARNING: I use some not-so-savory language in this post. I woke up this morning to find one little puddle of urine behind the chair in the girls' room, one medium-sized puddle of urine on Aaron's comforter, and one very large puddle of urine in the basement. Now, I know that none of the people in this house urinated in a place that wasn't the toilet, and I know that Shadow did not have the problem (he doesn't climb stairs). But as for the other four mammals...I'm not completely certain of which animal might be pissing all over the place. (Excuse my slang. I don't usually use that word, but somehow, it feels right. Probably because their pissing causes me to get pissed off.) I've seen Arnold urinate outside the litter box, but the puddle in the basement was so large, I can't possibly imagine his bladder could hold that much urine. At least not in one sitting. (Plus,  I added another litter box, in the event that he didn't like the other boxes at h...