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I\u2019ve been quarantined since Sunday. I didn\u2019t even go to church. My neighbor who is celebrating his first crop of honey is banned from bringing over my jar until I\u2019m over this hookanockus. And worst of all, my new grandbaby is at his house, sleeping and eating and growing without me. I\u2019m missing the newborn stage, and I hate it.<\/p>\n
The thing about hookanockus, other than it clearly makes me cross, is that it affects every other illness I have. And vice versa. It\u2019s a lose-lose situation, except that I have time to sit around and read and think all the thoughts and binge on Facebook. On the off chance you\u2019re interested, here are my thoughts as I lie in quarantine:<\/p>\n
1. If you\u2019re a writer, snag Brenda Ueland\u2019s book, If You Want to Write<\/em>.<\/strong> It gives a discouraged writer permission to chuck every criticizing, demeaning, mean thing ever said to her about her writing. And it encourages her to be herself. To let it flow, let it snow, let it go, let it show. To not caring a lick about what another might say or think of her, for then she will be original<\/i>. She may not be good<\/i>. Especially in her first draft. But she will be herself, and that\u2019s what the world wants and needs. Someone who has ideas and fears and solutions they\u2019ve not heard before, said in a way that hasn\u2019t been plucked to death by rules and revisions. Brenda wrote this book long, long ago, and I suspect this is the reason her advice is so fresh. She lived in a different world, where maybe everyone wasn\u2019t out to get 10,000 \u201clikes\u201d per article written solely for show and never for legit expression of their true selves.<\/p>\n 2. I\u2019m getting on toward the end of\u00a0Where The Red Fern Grows<\/em><\/strong>. I stopped off at the part where two bratty brothers bullied Billy and his coon dogs into a challenge to find the \u201cghost coon.\u201d Old Dan and Little Ann, Billy\u2019s dogs, did find and tree the elusive ghost coon. But one of the bratty brothers insisted on being, well \u2026 a jerk, and ended up getting himself killed by falling on the ax Billy lent him. Quite traumatic. In fact, most of the book is traumatic or sad or discouraging, which is having a positive effect on my emotional disposition as I sit for days on end slopping up mucous and doing my best to not sneeze on Shaun.<\/p>\n 3. I wrote a big fat blog about the NFL<\/strong>, and realized I\u2019m just as fed up with writing about politics as I am hearing about them. So I erased it. The world doesn\u2019t need one more opinion. One more string of words demanding the world see things a certain way. What we all need to be is quiet and respectful. Yes, respectful, even of the Emperor. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to respect the President, just the position of the presidency.\u201d That\u2019s what I heard growing up. Really? Because I Peter 2:17 says honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.<\/p>\n Not his position.<\/p>\n Him.<\/em><\/p>\n Even if he\u2019s a duffus.<\/p>\n 4. In better news, I am done refinishing my dining room table.<\/strong> I\u2019ve owned it for about sixteen years. It used to be oak, but now it\u2019s covered in Annie Sloan off-white paint, and it\u2019s been aged and waxed and looks sort of like a newbie tackled it and tried to be a professional. But I like it. For my first painting project, I think it turned out swell. It\u2019s inviting, and since it is aged, if someone nicks it, I don\u2019t have to have a meltdown. There\u2019s something lovely, therapeutic even, about taking new paint and slopping it over old wood. I\u2019m confused as to why we age the furniture after we paint the furniture. If we wanted something old and dinged, why not just leave it be? However, I confess that I do enjoy the aging process. Aging, see, is license to destroy, and given the frustrating nature of my life, I need a good destruction session here and there. Waxing, though, is not fun. It stinks (literally), and is probably a carcinogen. Plus it requires a little more elbow grease than I possess. It does protect the paint and aging job, though, so I put up with it. The project took me about three weeks to complete, because I\u2019m slow. And because of drying time. And because the strain it put on my neck gave me two headaches which always requires a few days recovery time. Next piece of furniture I\u2019ve vowed to hoist up to waist level, somehow (a little help, Shaun!), to ensure I\u2019m not bending this way and that, straining anything that might hurt a Twinkie like myself.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 5<\/strong>. I went out to feed my buddy <\/a>(that\u2019s bunny<\/em>, said with stuffed sinuses), Calvin,<\/strong> the other day, and to clean up his cage and lay fresh hay. When I removed the poop tray from the bottom of the cage, a handsome, orange butterfly flew out. I must say I do enjoy having a cut up of a bunny with a sophisticated, cold sober name who poops butterflies. Currently, he\u2019s the only one willing to get very close to me, so I\u2019m planning on a cuddle session this evening. Who knows, maybe he\u2019ll belch up a fish or something.<\/p>\n 6. We celebrated our 28th anniversary last Saturday.<\/strong> Kind of dawned on me that being married so long is rare, which made me wonder if we are weird or just dedicated. I was only seventeen when we married, and some family, mostly on Shaun\u2019s side, were skeptical. I would\u2019ve been, too. Shaun was marrying a sickly, young girl who was raised in the 80\u2019s. I mean, how encouraging and hopeful would that look to any person with their head screwed on straight? It didn\u2019t help that we had to cancel our original plan of getting married on August 20th, because I could no longer get my heart medications due to too many patients dropping dead from their side effects. This in turn led to open heart surgery and a pacemaker implant (they\u2019re not the same thing, so that made two surgeries in two weeks). In Houston. Two weeks before we were to marry. And we were from Colorado. I\u2019ll never forget taking the entire box of wedding invitations and ripping them up. When it came time to get married (for real) on September 23rd, I didn\u2019t bother sending invitations. Since I\u2019d still be recovering from the surgeries, I dwindled down my guest list to less than half of what it was. Only family and very close friends were invited, because we knew I wouldn\u2019t be able to keep up with very many guests after the ceremony.<\/p>\n But back to dedication. I think we were both dedicated as heck. I think it\u2019s possible for a seventeen year old to know what marriage is, that it is hard (because she experienced her parents\u2019 marriage), and be just as committed as a 25 year old. It\u2019s a heart issue. Not an age issue.<\/p>\n By the grace of God, we started out dedicated and have stayed dedicated. Sometimes it\u2019s been easy. Other\u2019s not so much, especially for Shaun. He\u2019s been required to give up his time, his money, sometimes his dreams because of me. I don\u2019t cherish being the reason for that. But it is what it is. Love (twue wuve, for you Princess Bride fans) is a laying down of your life for another. Daily dying to self so that others might live. Granted, that\u2019s been a two way street. I\u2019m not a bon-bon eater or a soap opera watcher. If I\u2019m even a smidgen able, I\u2019m up mopping or cooking or crafting or something that will keep the place running and make life meaningful and pleasant. I\u2019m not a great money-maker. But I try to be a true servant when and where I can.<\/p>\n Those are my stories and I\u2019m sticking to them. I\u2019m tired now, and my head feels stuffed with cotton and detached from my body. So I will sleep before my daughter gets here with some medicine and Sweet Mint Orbit gum. She\u2019s not coming in. I told her to throw the package on the doorstep and run for her life. She\u2019s due to deliver grandbaby #6 in five weeks, and the last thing she needs is to be infected with these joy-killing, energy-zapping germs I\u2019m spreading everywhere, including Shaun\u2019s keyboard. Oops. Sorry, honey!<\/p>\n Oh, before you go, please take a few minutes to watch this video. <\/a>It\u2019s amazing, and is a great follow up to my post, How To Know If You\u2019re A Child of God.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Until next time \u2026 toodle-oo.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 I\u2019ve been quarantined since Sunday. I didn\u2019t even go to church. My neighbor who is celebrating his first crop of honey is banned from bringing over my jar until I\u2019m over this hookanockus. And worst of all, my new grandbaby is at his house, sleeping and eating and growing without me. I\u2019m missing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2920,"featured_media":1292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[216,213,21,64,214,133,22,215,8,4],"class_list":["post-1288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brenda-diaries","tag-calvin","tag-chronic-illness","tag-marriage","tag-nfl","tag-pets","tag-reading","tag-the-flag","tag-the-gospel","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"IMG_6188\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/757\/2017\/09\/IMG_6188-225x300.jpg\")
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