Uh-oh…

Someone turned the heat down overnight, and from all reports, they’re intending to turn it completely off  tonight!  Apparently the overnight temperature is supposed to be around freezing, and I’m not thrilled in the least by that.  I definitely think I’m in the wrong part of the wrong part of the country.  It’s warmer in southern Ontario, although not by much.  The Caribbean tempts, as it often does… Jerry is again attacking the trim of my coat, and is shaking it when he’s not growling and trying to subdue it into a more compliant position!  Don’s been suffering a bit, he says that his knee “locks up” and is painful when he’s trying to stand or walk on it.  He’s making an accompanying soundtrack of groans when he walks across the room.  His support worker has been asking for more work to do, which is diametrically opposed to mine, who prefers to sit and watch me… we’ll sort it out and find a balance.

For the record, taking an opioid painkiller before bed results in not sleeping until almost 5am and then waking up at 9 and being groggy, tired and generally miserable until 11:30 when I got up to eat.  I have to confess that I took a tumble this morning.  I dropped some tea bags that I was getting to refill the bowl in the kitchen, bent over to pick them up and when I straightened up I just fell backwards.  That was fairly ok, except I couldn’t get up.  I didn’t have the strength to turn myself over, let alone push myself into a chair.  A call to 911 got the response that it could take over an hour to get assistance.  I called a friend of mine who lives nearby and luckily he was home and came right over; he arrived just behind the firemen, who assessed that I hadn’t done any damage to myself and then they picked me up in one hand, put me in a chair and kept an eye on me until I stopped shaking.  Don made me a cup of tea (excellent healing liquid) and then I later had a meal and it’s all ok now.

When I was a teenager I was part of a church youth group, and we were a very close set.  We got involved in a number of community activities and assisted at Mass.  The thing is, there were some very conservative people in the group, which, given that we were all 15/16 is really rather sad, who had the view that there was only one way to do things, including prayer.  I was accused of “not being serious” about prayer, since one of them noticed that I didn’t have my eyes closed during prayer — although that meant that their eyes were also not closed.  Now, 40 years later, we’re still in touch in a way.  As with every other group of teenagers as we grew up, some got closer, some drifted away and so on.  So I’m scrolling through social media and one of the old group has been posting those guilt-inducing memes about how society had turned away from “good Christian values” and filled with some vitriol against minorities.  When I raise the point that those aren’t Christian and are, in fact, in direct opposition to church teachings, I’m called a false Catholic, an apostate (big word!) and a blasphemer.  I’m not even going to pretend that I respond to those, I just quietly fold up my tent and slip away… or, in other words, I just mute them.

I was in danger of becoming as judgmental as they are, until I met Fr. Leo (RIP) who practiced his belief that people are generally good and should be judged lightly, if at all.  He would always remind me that we shouldn’t be harsh with others, and they deserve to be treated kindly.  I still slip sometimes but I do try to find the humane option.  Today is the first anniversary of my dad’s passing; it’s hard to realize that a whole year has passed already!  Lighting a candle to his memory tonight… I miss all my seniors!  Good night.