Bad days and good days

 

We all have them—ups and downs—but this week was particularly chaotic for me. Early in the week, I bumbled along writing my neighborhood newsletter which came out this month to a whopping thirty-two pages. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but I was pleased with a lot of the content.

But then Wednesday was an unsettling day. Tuesday night when neighbors Mary and Pru came for happy hour, we sat on the patio, and my Sophie joined us. Nothing she likes better than company on the patio. But that evening, it was clear that she was having stomach issues—I shall not get more specific. But she woke me to go out several times during the night, and I am one who values sleep. By three a.m. she quieted and slept until we both got up close to nine. Still, I dragged all day.

And I was barely up when Christian came to tell me Brandon, my Austin son-in-law, had spent the night in the ER. That was all Jordan, also in Austin, told him in the middle of the night. So we were left to wonder much of the day. Gradually we learned that he had checked out one of Austin’s city electric scooters and fallen, broke his jaw. By that night, we knew that he had surgery and, a biggie in my mind, did not have to have his jaw wired shut. Now, he’s recuperating, sleeping a lot, taking his meds, the swelling is going down. But Wednesday was his fiftieth birthday--bummer. The “epic” party scheduled for this weekend has been postponed.

Today has been a much better day. Because I’m a foodie at heart, grocery shopping, while a chore to many, is a delight to me. I love to wander the aisles of Central Market (for non-Texas folks, it’s an upscale market with a wide selection, but I especially appreciate the freshness of the vegetables, meat, and seafood). Jordan doesn’t like to go there, because parking is difficult, and she is so busy it’s easier for her to just shop without me. We order curbside pickup from Central Market about once a week.

But today, neighbor Mary took me. I drove through the store in one of their motorized carts and only had one near miss—a trash can latched on to my cart and wanted to go with me. Honest, it was a great delight for me. I bought groceries for the family, but a few treats for me, like smoked salmon. Plus Mary and I had fun together—she was great about reaching items off the shelf for me, returning the cart from the car, etc. We hope to do that again. And yes, I had a long list and spent a lot of money. The last thing Mary’s husband said to us was something like, “Try to make considered decisions.”

This evening Jean came for supper—she had been on a museum outing to Mineral Wells where they visited various sites, tasted some mineral waters, learned some history, and had a good time. She came straight here, and we relaxed. Dinner was good—fresh beets with greens, cod, and half an artichoke each. Beets take a long time to cook and then I waited for the pan to cool so I could roast the fish in it. So we had a good long time to visit and catch up. A lovely, pleasant evening.

This has not been a good week for writing, and I intend to focus on my work-in-progress this weekend. But a friend in a writing group talked about “brain writing,” when you’re not actively working on a project, but your brain is always busy with it. That’s what I’ve been doing.

I’m happy to report Sophie is feeling much better and was unbelievably demanding for attention tonight. The vet sent home some prescription canned dog food. That dog has never had wet food in her life, and now she’s ruined—I am afraid she’ll never settle for kibble again. She loves the wet food, and I can easily hide medicine in it and she never knows.

So here we go, sailing into the weekend. Jordan is to be home Sunday, so maybe Monday we can get back to normal. Meantime I have much enjoyed having the attention of two men—one almost fifty and one almost sixteen. There’s a silver lining to every cloud (wasn’t that a WWI song? I remember my mom was offended when I as a youngster suggested it was a Civil War song). Anyway, it’s a good thought, so make it yours for tonight. It sort of describes my week.