I spent a couple of days this week at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital South. No there is nothing wrong with my heart. But my spine is another story. My neurosurgeon works out of that hospital and he gave me some new scaring, my third back surgery, and I have some new fusion in the L4 L5 area.
I have degenerative back disease and my discs are not has healthy as they might be. It affects how I walk, and no amount of core strength classes can save it. I mean exercise helps, but eventually, it requires repair. I have a lovely set of walker, grabber, and back brace paraphernalia to wear and use. I’ve received countless messages and a vase of flowers from friends and I can’t cook for a while! It’s not all bad. And I met some nice people at the hospital. A couple were writers!
If I sound a little groggy it is because I am but I’m trying to maintain. I’m reading a new book, Big Magic, by Melissa Gilbert. You might like it. It is about living the creative life. I can read it while I take it easy.
What are you reading this week?
Sandhill Island is a mythical place – a place in my mind. But I could live there. I would love the slow pace and the self-reliant people who live near and on the water. They have adventures, romances, and lives of every type. They are islanders. As I write about them I can smell the salt air, and hear the relentless waves washing up on shore.
IT’S HOT OUTSIDE! And I’m not talking about the political scene. The temperatures in Oklahoma have reached the century mark and the humidity is trying to keep up with it. If you’re going outside, do it early morning or late evening. I’m sure it’s the same wherever you are.
If you follow my blogs you know they’re normally light. I talk about the current book I’m promoting or the flowers blooming in my garden. But today, I had to say something serious.
I’m sure the rest of the world is having as much trouble staying home and doing nothing as I am. But this is getting ridiculous! It’s not as if I am doing without, we have food to eat and a nice home to live in, but I really want to travel. And I can’t at this time.
Last year when The Wild Rose Press called for submissions for novellas based on a fictional Vermont Inn, the noise of mad scribbling and typing could be heard around the globe. Not all of The Wild Rose Press authors live in the United States. The story would be built around a quaint Vermont Inn nestled in a tiny town with lots of eclectic characters.
It’s Mother’s Day and today we celebrate mothers everywhere and their contribution to the world. I looked for a picture of my mother in the stacks that desperately needed attention and came up with this one. She was young, maybe unmarried, I don’t have a date on it. She married Dad right after WWII and they had my oldest sister a few years later. Eventually they had 3 daughters. I resisted using the one of her in a bathing suit. She might have come up from the grave to chase me with a stick! She was a piece of work.
The second picture is my daughter who is now a mother too. This adorable photo was taken when she was about two years old. She has been my lifelong friend as well as my daughter. I had her with I was barely 20 and I had to practice motherhood on her. But when her brother came along was when I really became a mother. Women with one child are mothers, but women with multiple children should be canonized before death. I have a niece with 8, my grandmother also had 8, and I have a friend who raised 5 on her own. I only thought I was stressed. Stressed, but blessed. I couldn’t have survived without them.
Last week in my blog I talked about the Heavener Runestone 
The Heavener Runestone 
My sister is an inspiration. I didn’t get permission to talk about this and I may now be off her Christmas list (assuming she reads my blog), but she’s a bad ass. With the pandemic she is going to work at Walmart everyday and stocking shelves, selling fabric and crafts to people stuck in the house – and she’s not alone. The people who work in retail are there every day to take care of us. They sling boxes and stock shelves so we can rush out the door with our treasures. On top of that she’s had two back surgeries in the last year and I know standing on her feet is harder than it is for most. But she’s not old enough for retirement yet and needs the income and insurance. I also know she has good friends there and she feels a loyalty to them, her employer, and the customers she serves.
