Weekending

It’s such a lovely, sunny day today!  I’ve actually had someone call and complain that it’s hot!!  Just can’t please some people, can you?  I have a friend who would say that there are some people, who, if they got into heaven, would complain that the sky was the wrong shade of blue.  Jerry is a happy little boy today because this morning, even before I had my tea, he was taken out for a short walk!  Don asked me where I got all that energy so early in the morning… (It was around 9) To be honest, I was winded and we only did a half block, really, but since it’s the first of the season, I’m not complaining.  My plan is to do this as often as possible, so I get back into some form of conditioning.  Jerry was good and didn’t pull (much) so I wasn’t pulled off balance.  Then I came home and rested.  Don has been getting into some form of mischief, as he disappeared into the other room for a good chunk of the morning and I have no idea what he was doing.  I’ll restrain my curiosity because I’ve learnt that if I don’t it means I have to explain stuff.  So he’s quietly watching sports while Jerry pretends to be a shoulder parrot 🦜 

I had an hour-long consultation with the pharmacy today, and the very patient pharmacist went over all the details of my new meds, including side-effects and their probabilities, things to avoid and when to call for help.  I have the product monograph which is printed in “barely visible without a magnifier” sized text, and which lists a distressing number of very unpleasant things which I have already explained to my body that we will not be experiencing, spank you kindly!!  Don has read some things that I haven’t and can’t find, and he’s been told to not read this stuff any more as he’s seeing some scary material.  This is not wilful ignorance, it’s rather a determination to remain focussed on the positive and not give in to worry.  For everyone’s benefit, I can not have grapefruit in any form or fashion, nor Seville oranges nor starfruit, none of which are part of my normal fruit rotation.  Other citrus is allowed, so I’ll manage.  They said something about not eating spicy food (😑) and caffeine to reduce side effects. The most likely side effects are nausea (have pills for that); diarrhea (🤨); loss of appetite (🙄) and possibly change in hair texture.  I’ll be starting the pills tonight, so expect an update sometime next week as to how it’s going.  As I see it, my biggest challenge is taking it on an empty stomach, so I think it’ll be a bedtime pill — another phone reminder!

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day here.  It’s the first one where I have no mommies at all… all my life, I’ve had several mothers, because in addition to my mother, there was my grandmother and my aunts, and this is the first one since Auntie Ming has gone.  It feels horribly wrong, somehow.  I mean, she always said that she didn’t need anything, but we’d get her flowers and a token gift, I’d mail a card, and most importantly, I’d call and we’d have a longer chat than usual (we talked every single day.)  I’m not going to wallow in sadness, because I’m very fortunate to have had so much love in my daily life.  I did see a piece on the news a day or so ago, headlined, “How to celebrate Mother’s Day without breaking the bank.”  That got me annoyed.  When and why did we start thinking that the only way to celebrate the people we love was to go into debt and spend more than we could afford?  I’ve never understood that mindset.  If money is tight, then celebrations scale to fit the budget so there’s money left at the end of the month!!  But with the extravagant social media displays of conspicuous consumption, it seems that people are each trying to outdo the others and gathering lots of content for landfills! 

I’m not going to go down that rant.  I wish everyone who’s celebrating a happy Mother’s Day, with warm thoughts for all those who fill the role of mother for children who need it.  May you all know how much you’re loved and appreciated, even on the days when you feel tired and frustrated.  I’m going to join the dog now, who is waiting to jump into my lap… Good night.