In which mom celebrates a lazy week not spent in the hospital
This last week has been a little crazy. I finally got regular sleep but it was difficult even on the calmest of nights. But I’ll take it. Small amounts of regular sleep is better than no sleep - and today I slept in after taking Daughter to school. My fitness watch says other than the break I took to take Daughter to school in the morning, I slept a whole 11 hours and most of it was the good kind of sleep I needed.
That’s a win for insomniacs everywhere.
Two days ago I guess the lack of sleep, the terrible period, or something random got to me because my kidneys were hurting so bad I thought for sure we were going to end up in the hospital. Late that night my Husband helped me pack a bag and we got in the truck. He was on his way and about to turn off into the hospital when I told him to just keep driving. (Husband drives circles around our city and the neighboring towns when I have too much pain or can’t sleep. The swaying and creaking of an old and well used truck usually gets me really sleepy and gets me calm every time.) We kept driving and two hours later I was ready for sleep. He drove me back home and I cautiously - so as not to startle the sleepiness away - ate my edibles for the evening, laid down, and tried to keep my mind blank so that sleep could come in and claim me.
It worked and in the morning I woke up with a migraine as a special sort of treat from hell. And in case you didn’t know - yes, migraines comes from Hell. The Christian version of hell. Lots of fire and brimstone in the brain. Unfortunately I didn’t hydrate before bed and edibles give me cotton mouth so the brain issues from hell probably came from dehydration more than anything.
The whole day (yesterday, actually) I was in pain and hoping to get through it before I had to take Boyfriend, Daughter and Son, to brunch at Boyfriend’s grandma’s house. Husband had stayed awake until 4am that morning just to make sure I stayed asleep and in case I really did need to go to the hospital. We let Boyfriend sleep without interruption as he handles the kids and the household stuff in its entirety while I have been so sick. Poor husband though…the lack of sleep can’t be good for him so we left him home to get rest and eventually made our way across town to Grandma’s house.
Yesterday was the perfect day weather-wise, by the way. Cloudy, raining, nice and cool. Some light wind. Thunder in different parts of the city that we could hear all the way up where we live. Perfect. Even the ivy climbing our trees perked up and grew a little higher up.
The food was delicious and the company is some of the best. Boyfriend’s parents are really great people who took to us (Me, Husband and our kids) like we were already one big happy family. There was a slight growing period but we got through it fine. Now we show up to family events like we’ve been doing it our whole lives. We are expected to show up - and that is really wonderful because I love and cherish each of them.
Boyfriend’s Grandma knows about our complex relationship and although she is a devout Catholic and has been her whole life - she doesn’t seem to judge me or hold anything against us. It took a while for that to happen but her and Boyfriend’s Grandpa have been nothing but kind to the kids and to Husband and I. They even seem happy for Boyfriend. I didn’t expect that.
I had a really good time sitting there shootin’-the-shit with Grandpa. Both of us have military backgrounds - he as a sailor and me as a sailor’s daughter. We reminisced about the different bases we went to and his time in the military. Both of us are also in treatment for health issues. Him for full blown cancer and me for precancerous cells and endometriosis. He’s got another 8 weeks of treatment and I should be done in late November and should know whether I have moved to full blown cancer at that time or if I am cleared and we got to it early enough.
Boyfriend’s Grandpa is praying for me and I for him. He always looks happy to see me and even gives me cheek kisses when he sees me and before I leave. That’s something I haven’t experienced since my mom’s dad passed away…I didn’t realize how terribly I missed having a grandpa that does that. He’s a good man and he brings happiness to my heart.
I think I make him laugh - at least I try my best too. Grandpa laughter is the best kind of laughter.
I even got to see my nephew. Boyfriend has a younger brother who has a young toddler - a boy. He is just about the most vivacious little boy I’ve ever met. Full of personality and a dash of defiance that screams ‘I am two; I do what I want!” I miss that kid so much and I rarely get to see him anymore. Kinda bummed about that. Especially when I remember how few times I get to see my own sisters and their children.
Life has a way of separating families.
Back to the present. This morning was pretty good. Slept in till half past eleven. Boyfriend made me coffee and brought it to me when I finally rose from the dead. (He makes the best coffee). And then I started my day. Teaching my son for our homeschool studies, picked up Daughter from her school. Got both doing schoolwork in our schoolroom/ mom’s office, and even had a snack. The kiddos have Karate today so they are diligently and quickly getting through their school work so that I can take them.
That brings me to the next post I am hoping to finish today or tomorrow - I finally, after three weeks of withdrawals from the medicine they had me on in the hospital, have finished all three books in the Discovery of Witches trilogy! I am hoping to post each review for the series.
The first week into withdrawals I couldn’t read more than a few pages per day - it was like my brain couldn’t move fast enough and connect the words with images in the brain. I couldn’t read! How the hell had I lost that ability?! I even called the doctor and asked if that was normal from Ativan withdrawals if you had a bad reaction to it - she said yes. Great. I had become a lazy writer who couldn’t read more than a few minutes at a time.
By the end of the third week I was almost at my pre-hospital best - reading the entire book in one day. I almost cried by the end of the third book. Not because of what was in the story but because I had actually finished it.
It’s been so long since my brain and I cooperated to complete a task and reading is my absolute favorite thing to do. I’m glad I got back in the swing of things these last few weeks!
In celebration for being out of the hospital for 3 weeks, and for finishing the trilogy, I am starting to read another book that my sister actually recommended on her website/blog - The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. All of my siblings are younger than me (and there is a lot of them), but this one in particular is especially well read and educated. She is one of the smartest young women I know and I couldn’t be prouder of her. She blogs and does book reviews as well as some random day to day stuff. You can visit her Instagram page or website at the following: bookwormraes-romanceblog.com
So far I am in love with it. It’s a very dense book and other than a few references I had to look up as I am not a historian - its a great read. It too is a large and dense book so I’m thinking its going to take me all week to finish it.
I was also going to sign up for the Masterclass classes offered online. I got hooked when they were advertising the Neil Gaiman himself would be teaching it. Maybe I do reviews for every class I watch. Even Husband was interested in the classes offered so he may be able to give an opinion here too!
This week is going to be stressful. Always things to do and never enough money in which to complete them. Wish me luck, hopefully I’ll get enough done this week and have lots more blogs to post.
P.s. No sign of the gym bro bully. He never showed, we waited around and did our workouts as normal. Looks like he decided our gym wasn’t fit for his level of ‘bro-ness’ - which is fine by us. We go at least 4 to 5 times a week and haven’t had any further problems. Looks like life is now settling into a routine I actually like since being home.
The only thing to make this little anniversary better is cake. And maybe and impromptu writing session in which I actually finish writing this first draft. Yeah…maybe I’ll write my anniversary away.
-A
