Always in the Middle

Everything went sideways ~ 

that’s what happened one 

yesterday, or maybe more, 

those sideways days ~ just 

cracks in days planned to flow gentle as a summer river 

interrupted by a summer storm. What are sideways things? In the middle: 

dropping a glass container

      that shatters!

or spilling a dish of water 

(the floor needed washing anyway)

or the dreaded hairballs that must be cleaned up1

There are many little everythings like that 

outside the order of the day’s plan. 

Words coloured violent blue assault the air.

’til everything’s righted with brooms, rags and lysol.

“Anything and everything you can think of can turn your life around.”

~ Nik Halik, astronaut, entrepreneur

A Crack in the Sidewalk

A crack in the sidewalk, 

jagged and out of place 

and I asked myself why 

it wasn’t neat and orderly. 

The answer rose beside 

the question: because the 

earth moves. But it doesn’t 

stop me from stepping over it 

or for children to draw with 

chalk for a game of hopscotch

A crack in the sidewalk, jagged 

and in the place it was given.

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”

~ Dr. Seuss

An Offer

Courage can restore order 

  when a chaos of worries

    threatens to overwhelm,

Just a tiny bit of courage to 

  take a deep breath, 

    take one tiny step, 

      to believe in that breath

Courage can restore order 

  when tiredness dictates

    with an offer to rest.

“Your best teacher is the person offering you your greatest challenge”

~ Cheryl Richardson, author

Snow Fall

As if to convince us that 

it was still winter, 

the snow fell lightly, 

a steady east wind brushing 

it through the air. The beauty 

of a gentle winter day. But 

most of us are smart enough 

to know that after today, 

it’s time for winter to take 

its frosty flakes and go home. 

Just not today. 

I hope

“…..winter is an exercise in waiting ~ for relief, for a bird to sing, 

for the first purple crocus to push up through the snow” 

~ Michelle Obama, Becoming

*Authors note: At the risk of repeating myself, this is the third year in a row that I have used this March snow fall picture. I’m still acclimating myself from my years away in locations when March is spring time!

Memory Lane

Kelowna Farmers Market 2008

Memory lane ~

always populated with 

smiling faces and scenes. 

Opportunity swirled me 

back to my Texas journey; 

onward to my Kelowna years 

at Hazeldell Orchards. 

Feeling Lubbock's hot dry air, 

hearing and seeing tones of a

another land; the warm hearts 

of colleagues in a golden time. 

I could feel the carpeted halls,

step inside the curve of the 

nursing station, as crowded 

and busy as my memories

In Kelowna, air was moist and cool, 

pears and apples were juicy and crisp

at my weekend ‘job’ where 

the hearts were just as warm ~

a time when my nursing work 

was set aside for a few days, 

or a month, to live, laugh and 

work outside while seasons changed.

Memory lane ~

always populated with 

smiling faces and scenes. 

“Nostalgia: A device that removes the ruts and potholes from memory lane.”

~ Doug Larson, columnist & editor

(1926 - 2017)

Being

 

To know one’s being after

all the glorious mess of a day 

is to allow it to blossom

in the quiet of the evening.

“Inhale and hold the evening in your lungs.”

~ Sebastian Faulks, Engleby

There is a Purpose

Procrastination: 

“the act of delaying 

something that must be 

done often because it is 

unpleasant or boring” ~

Cambridge online dictionary

        ~~~~~~

Dust has been banished, 

soap scum put in it’s place ~ 

down the drain, 

mirrors polished, 

floors devoid of cat hair, ……

and all the while I wondered:

“What are you procrastinating about? 

You dislike finicky housework?”

Not the first time with the puzzle, 

but now I know. 

I know that problems need sorting. 

The sorting that arises from

 the act of ‘finicky cleaning’

You may laugh, 

you may guffaw, 

you may snort in disgust 

but I see my thoughts 

attached to the vacuum, 

the rag that scrubs grime, 

the folding of stray tablecloths

until I have an orderly list of to do’s.

Tax time is always confusing!

“Organizing is what you do before you do something, 

so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”

~ A.A.Milne

1 in 26

Epilepsy has been my friend for 60 years. Not so friendly in the first 10 years, but as I learned more about myself, this condition and the medications that I was taking I found strategies that were respectful of the effects of epilepsy. Being a loner, an introvert, I learned I am just someone who feels more comfortable in small groups. I learned to say no to many things, or always knew when it was time to get quiet. I have not tried to chase epilepsy out of my brain - not possible. I’ve read literature about surgical removal of epilepsy and found that it is more complex than just having surgery. Suffice it to say it’s not like fixing a broken arm or leg.

Today is Purple Day for Epilepsy Awareness. I need to be aware of, and respect, the possibility of seizure activity every day. Now we are quite comfortable with each other. However I know that as the 60 years since diagnosis becomes 61 and onwards, who knows whether our comfort level will change. After all my joints have gotten fussier over the years, why not my brain? 

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’ possible; 

and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

~ Francis of Assisi

*Author’s note: 1 in 26 is the most recent statistic about the incidence of individuals with epilepsy.