My spouse surprises me sometimes. He has not been feeling well, but with the recent duration of unusually pleasant weather, the spouse was feeling a bit more limber. He gave me a gift and instructed “put it on and meet me out back!”
What?
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Today, February 14, is one of the most contrived holidays to boost retail sales, especially of jewelry, flowers, candy, and cards. I know this sounds a bit cynical for an old sentimental softie like me. However, I continue to eschew the trappings of corporate greed that leverages a made-up “holiday” to fill the coffers of businesses that are all about profits and little else.
So my usual practice for this February 14 goes back to what I did in grade school, which is…
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Welcome to 2017, fellow blog readers. Instead of wishing the usual expression, “happy new year,” my spouse and I wished each other “healthy new year.” That is my endeavor for him this year. (I was looking for a graphic to illustrate this, but only found graphics of health foods — not what I was looking for, so I posted a photo of a “healthy and happy us” that we envision for ourselves in 2017.)
While this blog was on its end-of-the-year break, my Spouse and I had a very interesting visit with a D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine). We had to wait ten weeks to see this highly-trained doctor, but it was well worth the wait. The doctor reviewed results from various tests, x-rays, and studies that my Spouse endured at seven testing centers in November and December.
And the answer is…
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I am returning to blogging after taking a long break for Christmas. I had nothing to write about, and we muddled through the holiday with the mother-in-law in her dark, depressing house in the run-down borough adjacent to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
What we just endured for Christmas culminated how I felt about the year 2016 — a year I would rather forget. But I worry that 2017 will be far worse. (However, remaining consistent with my self-promise, I will not post anything about politics on this blog any more.)
So for 2016, this was my life in boots, leather, and life….
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The relapse of the infection that my spouse has been fighting this week has produced highly variable symptoms, including vertigo, nausea, brain fog, and aphasia (unable to express words, though he knows them.)
Because of the room-spinning dizziness, he could not keep solid foods on his tummy. The brain fog — a cloud of non-comprehension — caused him to not be “in the present.” He could function physically, but not mentally. The combination of these symptoms is frightening.
I posted yesterday that my spouse was missing. Last night, however…
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Has anyone seen my spouse? He is the good-looking hunk who hangs around our house. He is the one who tends to our gardens, does all our laundry, and cuts coupons to match them with sales that we frequently save 40% or more on our weekly groceries.
He is the one who puts up with a lot of crazy things I do, from entertaining hundreds of seniors on Thanksgiving each year to spending a lot of time caring for others, remodeling homes, and being a wonky community activist.
My spouse is the guy who…
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I am very unhappy. My beloved spouse who had dealt with a horrible long-term illness that put him through three YEARS of hell has had a relapse. (I wrote about our ordeal in many posts on this blog, tagged here.)
My spouse has been in remission from symptoms for 21 months, but for about the last week…
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My spouse and I do not get out much. He is usually in so much pain from damage caused to his joints from his three-year hell of illness and fatigued by the lingering sleep disorder that the illness left behind, he does not want to, or have the energy to, do anything. Anywhere. At any time.
So imagine my delight when we had one of those rare happy and joyful moments for an outing. Last Saturday, my spouse and I got into my truck and we drove…
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I really do not have much to say, but since my posts on this blog have been infrequent, I thought I would acknowledge the slow progress toward recovery from my recent injuries, as well as a few other observations….
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Ten months ago, my spouse and I drove to his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the intent of picking up his mother to bring her to our house for her usual summer visit with us.
When we arrived, we were shocked to find…
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