11 May ‘23 …
Weather felt like Spring last week until Monday afternoon when the wind came up and clouds began to form.
Then we had a couple of days of snow skiffs and then rain clouds followed by sun and warmer temperatures.
Now we can expect just about anything.
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Got an email from a Tyler cousin with a note that soon he will be 91. He’s the generation behind me. There are only two of us left in my generation and we are 91 and nearly 93.
Spoke with Dottie’s daughter Theresa. She told me Dottie (the one who is 91) isn’t feeling well. I’ll check with Theresa in a day or so.
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I am part of an on-going general health test sponsored by two MDs in Massasscutes titled the VITAL Study. It is using people over 50 so I qualify nearly times two.
Had to answer yes to several questions on the once a year survey. My yes answers were related to my age. I used to have no “no” answers. Now I don’t walk as good as before and I lose a word here and there.
I wonder if they compare the yes answers with my age?
Oh well …
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Speaking about the VITAL Study (“The VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL — VITAL)”, which began in 2010, is an “ongoing research study in 25,874 men and women across the U.S. investigating whether taking daily dietary supplements of vitamin D (2000 IU) or omega-3 fatty acids (Omacor® fish oil, 1 gram) reduces the risk for developing cancer, heart disease, and stroke in people who do not have a prior history of these illnesses” (I never took the dietary supplements so I must have been/are in the control group). The MDs who are conducting the study are at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and are studying people aged 71 and older, so they must be adjusting the responses to the yes/no for age (see the previous paragraph).
“Each year that a participant is in the research study, he or she will receive an emailed questionnaire that takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. The form contains questions about health; lifestyle habits such as physical exercise, diet, and smoking; use of medications and dietary supplements; and family history of illness.”
If it’s like the last test of which I was a part using nurses as test subjects. And since I am a nurse I knew I was in the control group that time based on my lack of the symptoms I expected were I in the placebo group.
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Interesting overlapping facts from the Old Farmers Almanac …
Dr. Benjamin Spock and Dwayne Johnson were both born on the 2nd of May and both Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover died on that same date.
Interesting coincidences.
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According to the Old Farmers Almanac, this month’s Full Moon is “Depending on which Native American tribe’s culture, the Full Moon in May was called the Full Flower Moon as well as Mother’s Moon, Milk Moon, and Corn Planting Moon”.
Which do you like?
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Yesterday, Tuesday the 8th, I went out with the Monday Lunch group which I haven’t been able to be with for several months.
Some Ladies in what I think may be called the McCloud Catholic Altar Guild since they are the Ladies who are responsible for the flowers etc. during Mass and all other events, held a fundraising salad luncheon. I was able to go with the remaining four of the Monday Lunch group but not yet able to handle my cane and a buffet plate at the same time so one of the Monday ladies, Bless them all, looked out for me and filled a plate for me as well as one for herself.
Those church ladies did themselves proud. There had to have been at least two dozen kinds of salads offering at least four or five kinds of pasta salad including rigatoni.
When our plates were empty, Darlene went back for seconds and returned with plates for me and herself and fluffy white cake for dessert.
It was a day out really a gift for me and a real Blessing when they all came back to my digs.
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There are now what appear to be endings for many of us. Sometimes I have trouble differentiating between endings and beginnings.
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| So to close out the week … What I’m learning about grief is that it sits in the space between laughs, comes in the dark, steals the warmth from the bed covers, threads sleep with thin tendrils, is a hauntingly familiar song … yet you can’t remember the words. Grief rolls in like a heavy mist, settles into the crevices, lingers on the skin, visits, then visits again. It is chaotic laughter from splintered memories. It is jagged cries and single tears. Grief sneaks up on you. It can come like a whisper or as loud as thunder. It leaves a hollow, to be filled with a new planting when you wake to another day that feels oddly the same as the last. Eventually, it will say “See, it’s not so bad. I got your back.” What I’m learning about grief is to acknowledge its presence. What I’m learning about grief is that it is still learning about me … learning that I am strong and resilient. If the trees can keep dancing … So can I. Author Unknown So ‘til next blog … |