New week

The weather was sunny and pleasant today, although it started off a little fresh.  I had plans to do all sorts of things today but my arm decided to flare up a few times.  Thanks for the tips on how to help it improve; I tried a few.  As I mentioned, I have full range of motion, but there are a few movements that cause pain.  I haven’t taken any meds for it — I’m honestly unsure which will work.  The stretches and exercises seem to help, as do the heat pack and massager.  Jerry has been guarding me all day, literally.  He didn’t get up until I did (at almost 9:30am) and then settled on my lap every time I sat down.  I couldn’t even go to the bathroom unaided  - I’ve had an ankle-high shadow anytime I got up.  I was right to stay out of what Don’s been doing on his computer… he confessed that he’d tried doing a cleanup of his hard drive and almost crashed his system.  I don’t miss using MS Windows, nor do I understand why he hasn’t upgraded his, but he has fun with it, so it’s all good.

I had a huge, unexpected and almost irresistible wave of nausea today.  I was on the phone, when I felt it, I quickly told them I had to go, and ran.  After taking my anti-nausea medication, I fell asleep on my chair for a little over an hour, complete with small dog curled up on my lap.  I think that I might have to stop drinking tea for a while, as my tummy was just wibbling while I was having my evening cup.

I had a conversation recently with someone about marriage.  They were arguing (I’ve heard this before) that feminism is destroying marriage, since women are not devoted to their husbands and children and are more interested in building careers.  This is one of those false arguments that gets a lot of attention and seems like it’s valid.  I disagree.  Marriage, as the romantic union that features in movies is a comparatively modern concept.  For most of our history, they were arranged by families to benefit each other.  Anyway, apart from the arrangements of marriages, for a very long and distressing time, women lost many rights upon marriage.  They weren’t allowed to work outside the home, if they were pregnant, they definitely weren’t allowed.  In much of the world, they couldn’t have their own bank accounts, manage their own money (even in the arrangements where dowries were paid) and single women with children were looked down upon until fairly recently.  So with all those obstacles, leaving a bad marriage (and I know there were many) was next to impossible.  That just meant that some marriages were for appearance only - I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard women be told that they should just put up with abuse, or a cheating spouse or other such factors.  Add in there the change in pay where it’s increasingly difficult to raise a family on a single income, and it’s unsurprising that women are more involved in the workforce.  Increased equality also meant that fewer women would be willing to remain in difficult situations.  

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t marriages based on love, equality and mutual respect; I know several couples who’ve been married for decades and are happy together.  They are great examples, as none of them pretend that their marriage is problem free and perfect, but they work on their issues.  It does, in my opinion, strengthen my belief that having equity makes things better all around.  Marriages are better and stronger when both parties are equals, and they’re honest with each other.  It’s not because women are in the workforce — I’ve seen changes that men are now undertaking more of the housework, which is another good thing, and the “Father’s always right” mindset has become a joke.  He’s not, no disrespect intended.  In summary, it’s not because of feminism that the divorce rate has increased, it’s because there are more options available than staying in a bad partnership.

It’s time for my meal so I can take my chemo pills.  The longer day is mildly confusing as it looks earlier than it is but I’m sticking to the time.  Apart from that, the little dog has decided that my lap looks empty without a puppy, so I’ll have to get to work 😁  good night