For Jessica
_______________________________
____________________
And now, a few words.
I am back at the ANNEX today with a post first published here in May 2007. It seems very fitting that this, of all my submissions, should be picked now. As melancholy seems to be the watchword of my life lately and saying goodbye to special someones appears to be the theme. Please if you have a minute, stop by to read this post about my grandpa.
This is my friend Jessica.
| 1. Isabella 2. Goofball | 3. soccer mom in denial 4. Flower Child |
Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.
.JPG)
Ah, here comes the sun
Answer me this:
If one is plagued with a viral infection turned bacterial known by name BRONCHITIS and one is well, you know, coughing incessantly no matter the position one is in or the time on the clock, while also suffering interchangeably with chills, fever, aches, massive headache and general feeling super sorry for oneself, what should one do while one waits rather impatiently for recovery to come knocking at the door?
(A note to my readers: I don't know how to insert a proper poll here, and let's be honest can't really be bothered to learn it right now, being on death's door and all. And besides that stunningly good reason for laziness, having a non-anonymous-you-must-leave-me-a-comment poll not only offers me all the warm fuzzies of reading your comments it also offers you the creative leeway you, my lovely readers and friends, deserve in that YOUR answer to the question may not lie in the choices below.)
(P.S. I get delirious with fever. I don't know why I mention that now, I just thought it was something you should know about me)
1. Soldier on, little trooper. Also known as: Go to work everyday. You might as well be sick there and accomplishing something (which won't get done without you there) rather than bored and hacking up bits of lung at home.
2. Stay home and whimper loudly about the sorry state of your sorry self. You, after all, need to keep the bronchial passages moist. How better to do that than shed some tears over your poor pathetic self?
3. Take the high road and do both things. Spend your days at work cough, cough, coughing and causing all around you to wonder just why oh why you are there in the first place (read as: awe over your selfless sense of dedication to your work) and secretly scrutinizing whether you are going to infect them in the second place. (read as: how could you be so self centered as to enter this building and make the rest of us sick?) AND then come home to sniff and snort and well, cough. A lot.
4. Email your friend in between naps and/or coughing jags and laugh out loud over this line describing Bronchitis recovery: I knew I was getting better when I recovered enough interest in living to be amazed at the amount and variety of stuff my lungs started throwing back out of my body... But only laugh for a second, because, you remember now, laughing makes you cough. And coughing is bad. Very, very bad.
5. Laugh harder when you receive a Get Well Soon HOOPS & YOYO e-card in your inbox (from someone who never misses a beat) And then, of course, try to stop coughing while you are snorting over it.
6. Take lots of medicine, including your antibiotics (which you will finish to completion because you DO NOT believe in making superviruses--regular bronchitis viruses are crappy enough, thank you very much). Not that any of the cough medicines will really help all that much but it does serve as a good model for Andrew who is also suffering from the big B and who doesn't, I repeat DOES NOT enjoy taking his medicine.
7. Snuggle up with your significant other, who is approximately a day behind you in this journey to bad-bad-bronchitis hell, and reassure him that it only gets worse before it gets better. Then cough loudly into his ear. He will like that.
Or are there better ideas?
Please, enlighten me. But try hard not to make me laugh.
Here's the deal friends. I am up to my eyeballs in preparation for first day of school arriving this coming Thursday. And while I (of course) have a lot to say, I have no time to say it, at least not this week. Don't cry for me though, strangely I thrive on this kind of madness and chaos and find myself grinning ear to ear as I work the long hours.
You can cry though for yourselves if you want to. And okay, you can tell me just how much you miss me, and my charm, wit, grace and photography this week. That would make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
BUT.
While you wait for me to generate some sort of masterpiece-ical post, do this for me won't you?
Pop over to see Lilacspecs at her place and read this piece.
Why you ask? Because it just got a perfect post award. From me.
Can't talk now. I am out in it.
Tell me, please, what are you doing today?
1. Goofball | 2. Flower Child | 3. Kate Forsey |
Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.
Notorious for its low grey skies, heavy cloud cover and relentless rain, The Netherlands seems set to best its own record for rainfall this summer. I tend to anthropomorphize everything in life and in my mind, THE NETHERLANDS is a big busty blond woman who wears too much lipstick and who has a propensity for chatting with her best friend MOTHER NATURE. The two of them get to gossiping and forget to turn off the damn flood gates of heaven and let the sunshine through to the lowlands every once in awhile.
I am a little bitter that they are spending so much time together, yes.
With the holiday week in Croatia under our belts I was all set to return home to afternoon tanning reading in the garden and lots of evening chats with neighbors under clear night skies.
Clearly, I forgot where I live.
Instead of the sun, we've had rain. And lots of it. I admit I am no scientist and have no metering device for this summer's rainfall but I am pretty sure the measure would be a SUPER LARGE number, like maybe GAJILLIONS of raindrops, which no matter how you look at it is certainly MORE than I wished for.
But THE NETHERLANDS and MOTHER NATURE aren't taking my calls.
My google search tells me that on average this country receives over 800 mm of yearly rainfall. I converted that to inches (for those of us who think archaically) and it read 30 1/2. I will help put that in perspective for all of us: it means A LOT.
Winter time is the most obvious receiver of rainfall. And the spring. Also, fall tends to see an awful lot of the wet stuff from the skies. But summer? Summer is supposed to be sacred. Dry and sacred. And sunny.
When I sat down to write this post I was certain there would be a point to it by the time I reached the end. However, whatever it might have been is eluding me now. I think we can chalk this one up to a massive wingeing on my part. You see, the sheets and towels on the outside line have stayed damp for days, friends; my youngest has his winter cough already welling up in his chest; the short sleeve shirts and capri length jeans haven't seen the light of day this season (I do insist though on wearing my flip-flops--it seems a crime to have summer without them). Though the rain barrel is full my glass appears to be half-empty, folks.
Fill it up for me, won't you?
Recall with me the attempts and the failures in this lifelong quest.
And then, let's hear the applause.
More haiku can be found today => here.
Games People Play
You take it or you leave it.
The traveling clan across the ocean will soon board an airplane bound for Holland. Andrew and mother are feverishly working to make things ready for the return of Don, Ian and Emma to their home. Preparations include kicking Andrew out of Daddy's side of the bed and, *ahem*, vacuuming up the cookie crumbs left over from breakfast in front of the TV. In discussion late this afternoon that only one sleep remained before brother, sister, and Dad returned, Andrew was seen to clasp his hands to his heart and exclaim "Oh,I think that really makes me so happy!". This writer concurs.
Sketchy background details before the meat emotion of this post:
1. "M" and I met nearly 15 years ago when I was hugely pregnant with Ian.
2. Immediately after meeting her, I went into pre-term labor and was put on bed rest for 6 weeks.
3. Melissa did all my laundry, loaned me her cordless phone, brought me books to read, visited me daily and made my lunches for that period. She also cleaned behind my refrigerator when we moved from one side of our duplex rental to the other. We've been bonded ever since.
4. We had our second babies, our daughters, within 4 months of each other. I got to be there for the birth of hers. It was an outstanding opportunity and an amazing experience to share.
5. She and her children live in our house in Arizona. I miss her everyday.
These are her emails to me this week, as she has been the host to my traveling family:
I can't stop staring. I can't stop staring. I can't stop staring.
These young adults in my house are so fun to watch, and I really can't stop staring. It's especially surreal to see John and Ian together. Every time I look at them together, I get this very vivid picture in my mind of them playing in your apartment in North Phoenix when Ian was still in diapers. They are all getting along so well. Emma and Megs are upstairs trying on all Megs' give-away clothes and Emma appears to be finding quite a stash. Ian and John are at the video store renting a game so Ian doesn't get totally bored tomorrow while John's at school. Megs is opting to stay home, but John feels like he needs to go.
Emma and Megs were in heaven earlier because my niece brought her 6-month old baby over for them to babysit while they went to a Diamondbacks game. They did a fabulous job -- the girls, that is. He's now sleeping thanks to Emma's bottle feeding expertise. I thought she had gone upstairs with him to put him in the bed, but when I walked into the front room she was lying down on the couch and he was cuddled up asleep next to her. I told Megs to take a picture of it, but I'm not sure she did. If she did, I'll email it to you.
Now the girls are out in the rain (Monsoon) getting soaked and John and Ian just came in, so I'd better run. After all, I need to stare some more!!
xoxox
M.
Hey! Last day to enter the contest!
Get over to My Mommy's Place now and get 'em submitted!
Yahoo! Haiku Buckaroo!
A joint venture photoblog.
Come. Take a look.
January 10, 2008
January 8, 2009
Wordless 
