Thursday, January 22, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Fantastic read!
I just finished the latest by Maeve Binchy. She is one of the authors I really enjoy! Her most recent work is called Heart and Soul. Ms. Binchy has a very realistic way of describing real life situations and emotions. I have yet to pick up a book of hers that hasn't totally engrossed me. I recommend this author to everyone!
Friday, January 9, 2009
What do you say when some one you love is dying?
Thurs. night we got a phone call letting us know that Grandpa Q was doing very poorly. His oxygen sat rate was 74 and his blood pressure was down to 60/40. He was almost comatose as well. To say the least we were extremely worried. He apparently hadn't been eating or drinking in days and was finally hooked up to an IV to see if that would help.
The weather has been sooooo bad though we were having a hard time deciding whether or not to head into Leth. to be with him. Mom kept telling us that he wouldn't want us putting ourselves in danger no matter how bad he was. We weighed the options and after no improvement for 12 hrs, dug the cars out of the drifts, shovelled out the lane and left en masse. Yes, the roads were unreal but we were worried he was dying so the risk was worth it. Who knew what we would find when we got there.
I guess just the motion of the most of the family toward his hospital room must have had some positive effect. By the time we walked next to his bed he was able to wake and speak to us. We knew he would be OK when he was embarrassed that I had seen him without his teeth in. Grandpa always looks put together and keeping up appearances is important to him. The Dr. arrived about the same time we did and checked his vital signs. Everything was back to normal. Grandpa was still exhausted and went in and out of sleep. He ended up being in a dream state at times and would tell us all sorts of things but he was happy to have us all there. He was really confused though that we had all shown up. He kept telling me to get the casket ready. I thought we almost had him convinced he was doing alright now until we were about to leave. He called Jamie over to him in a whisper and said, "So I really almost could've died?" He got teary eyed as we left and it broke my heart. I know he won't be with us much longer. In the last 5 months he has gone from my bright, aware, upright, card-playing, big Grandpa to a shrunken old man in a hospital bed. He knows he is going down hill and this was one of the few times in a couple of years he has had this many family members in the same room. You could see he was so happy just to have us all there. I wish that for one last time, just once more, we could all go "Up in The Hills" (our family ranch) with Grandma and Grandpa sitting at the cabin table playing Rook, with Grandma making pancakes and chokecherry syrup. I want Grandpa to yell at me for loosing his hammer building tree forts. I want to do the chores for Grandpa and drive the hay truck as they stack the bales. I want Grandpa sitting in his chair looking out the big picture window watching the farm and the cars go down the road. I miss my Grandpa who would always try to steal my ice cream and the Grandma that made popcorn every Sunday while we watched the Wonderful World of Disney movie of the week. I miss Grandma's bread!!! It's so hard to watch the big strong people in your life; the people that were your barriers to rough world; the people you looked to as the anchors of the family shrink down and gradually fade away.
The weather has been sooooo bad though we were having a hard time deciding whether or not to head into Leth. to be with him. Mom kept telling us that he wouldn't want us putting ourselves in danger no matter how bad he was. We weighed the options and after no improvement for 12 hrs, dug the cars out of the drifts, shovelled out the lane and left en masse. Yes, the roads were unreal but we were worried he was dying so the risk was worth it. Who knew what we would find when we got there.
I guess just the motion of the most of the family toward his hospital room must have had some positive effect. By the time we walked next to his bed he was able to wake and speak to us. We knew he would be OK when he was embarrassed that I had seen him without his teeth in. Grandpa always looks put together and keeping up appearances is important to him. The Dr. arrived about the same time we did and checked his vital signs. Everything was back to normal. Grandpa was still exhausted and went in and out of sleep. He ended up being in a dream state at times and would tell us all sorts of things but he was happy to have us all there. He was really confused though that we had all shown up. He kept telling me to get the casket ready. I thought we almost had him convinced he was doing alright now until we were about to leave. He called Jamie over to him in a whisper and said, "So I really almost could've died?" He got teary eyed as we left and it broke my heart. I know he won't be with us much longer. In the last 5 months he has gone from my bright, aware, upright, card-playing, big Grandpa to a shrunken old man in a hospital bed. He knows he is going down hill and this was one of the few times in a couple of years he has had this many family members in the same room. You could see he was so happy just to have us all there. I wish that for one last time, just once more, we could all go "Up in The Hills" (our family ranch) with Grandma and Grandpa sitting at the cabin table playing Rook, with Grandma making pancakes and chokecherry syrup. I want Grandpa to yell at me for loosing his hammer building tree forts. I want to do the chores for Grandpa and drive the hay truck as they stack the bales. I want Grandpa sitting in his chair looking out the big picture window watching the farm and the cars go down the road. I miss my Grandpa who would always try to steal my ice cream and the Grandma that made popcorn every Sunday while we watched the Wonderful World of Disney movie of the week. I miss Grandma's bread!!! It's so hard to watch the big strong people in your life; the people that were your barriers to rough world; the people you looked to as the anchors of the family shrink down and gradually fade away.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Weird Quirks
I recently read a fascinating autobiography, Born on a Blue Day, written by a young man, Daniel Tammet, with Asperger Syndrome (higher functioning autism, basically). A must read!! In it he described a strange phenomenon he also has called synesthesia. He experiences numbers and words just as we do with letters and symbols but also as shapes, colors, textures and motions. I found this so interesting. What is it that formed these connections in his brain? Then I realized that I also have a wierd "thingy" in how I perceive the months of the year. Whenever I think of the months as a whole year I see them in my brain as a sort of "Z" shape something like this
DEC NOV OCT SEPT
...................AUGUST
............JULY
.............JUNE
............MAY
..................APRIL MARCH FEB JAN
Bizzare, right?
Ya know, I think we're all a little quirky though. Please nod your head and agree with me here.LOL! I have more quirks too. Did you know that I am a sectoral heterochromiac? One of my eyes is about 1/4 brown. Apparently, this is even more unusual than have two eyes of different color. Then right below the inner corner of my eyes along the tear ducts the outer skin is not completely closed. It functions fully. Just the outer skin hasn't quite closed. Strange, eh?
DEC NOV OCT SEPT
...................AUGUST
............JULY
.............JUNE
............MAY
..................APRIL MARCH FEB JAN
Bizzare, right?
Ya know, I think we're all a little quirky though. Please nod your head and agree with me here.LOL! I have more quirks too. Did you know that I am a sectoral heterochromiac? One of my eyes is about 1/4 brown. Apparently, this is even more unusual than have two eyes of different color. Then right below the inner corner of my eyes along the tear ducts the outer skin is not completely closed. It functions fully. Just the outer skin hasn't quite closed. Strange, eh?
Saturday, January 3, 2009
How to keep those Resolutions!
I've never been one to set resolutions for the New Year. I guess I'm not really a band wagon jumper. However, this year is different. I have set a specific goal and want to be sure to reach it. The last thing I want to do is be the typical "january joiner" and flunk out before the first month of the year is out. So what to do?
1. Make sure you set realistic goals. For example, don't decide that you will lose 50lbs by February 14th for your special Valentine. This is plain old ridiculous no matter what those celebrity magazines tell you.
2. Chop up that goal into smaller steps. Say your goal is to run a marathon in October. You aren't going to just pick up those running shoes and make 26 miles next Saturday. Do a little research about training schedules and then choose a weekly and monthly target. Run 1 mile a day the first 5 days and then 3 on Saturday. Up it from there. No, don't quote me. I'm not a runner. Call Rita! She knows.
3. Eliminate black and white thinking. You know what I mean, especially if you have ever been on a diet. You've been white knuckling it through the first few days avoiding all sugar, white flour and fat, eating only fruit and veg. Then you go to a party and someone serves chocolate cake. It just calls your name and you dive off the deep end and devour. There goes the diet, right? WRONG!!! Stop! Don't continue to pig out with that "failure" sign you put over your head blinking away. It's just food for heaven's sake. Stop thinking that it's all or nothing. Progress is always two steps forward and one step back. Nobody is perfect and we will all fall off the wagon at some point. Just move on. No recriminations necessary.
Hopefully, these steps along with good old fashioned gumption can get us on our way. Resolutions can be a great way to continually improve yourself but don't beat yourself up if it takes a couple of New Years to finally climb that proverbial mountain.
1. Make sure you set realistic goals. For example, don't decide that you will lose 50lbs by February 14th for your special Valentine. This is plain old ridiculous no matter what those celebrity magazines tell you.
2. Chop up that goal into smaller steps. Say your goal is to run a marathon in October. You aren't going to just pick up those running shoes and make 26 miles next Saturday. Do a little research about training schedules and then choose a weekly and monthly target. Run 1 mile a day the first 5 days and then 3 on Saturday. Up it from there. No, don't quote me. I'm not a runner. Call Rita! She knows.
3. Eliminate black and white thinking. You know what I mean, especially if you have ever been on a diet. You've been white knuckling it through the first few days avoiding all sugar, white flour and fat, eating only fruit and veg. Then you go to a party and someone serves chocolate cake. It just calls your name and you dive off the deep end and devour. There goes the diet, right? WRONG!!! Stop! Don't continue to pig out with that "failure" sign you put over your head blinking away. It's just food for heaven's sake. Stop thinking that it's all or nothing. Progress is always two steps forward and one step back. Nobody is perfect and we will all fall off the wagon at some point. Just move on. No recriminations necessary.
Hopefully, these steps along with good old fashioned gumption can get us on our way. Resolutions can be a great way to continually improve yourself but don't beat yourself up if it takes a couple of New Years to finally climb that proverbial mountain.
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