This is the first post on this site. I’ve created this blog to express, as best I can, the upside of my life after having been railroaded by chronic health concerns. In one brief sentence, I woke up from a surgery five years ago a changed person. I have tumbled into a life of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia (stiff, painful muscles). It stinks. I guess that’s three brief sentences.
In any event, last year we sold our home because I could no longer care for it, and I left work, because it consumed all my energy, leaving none for my family. I am now reconstucting a manageable life, living in a condo (which is a fairly large stand-alone house, and quite pleasant), and I’m establishing a home business, writing and editing. Where in my former life I worked out for a strenuous one hour, four to six times per week, I now do 30 minutes of stretch and strengthening exercises, in bed each morning, to prepare my legs to tolerate standing and walking. And, I try to walk outdoors too – but, that comes a bit later in this writing.
It’s been a major head trip, finding myself riding sidecar to my former life. I think two things most bother me. First, people who do not have this condition really cannot understand it. It doesn’t help that I’m the picture of health! Second, I can never predict how I will feel on any given day. So, it’s hard to plan ahead. I used to love to travel. Now, I worry that if I book a vacation, I won’t have the strength to actually go. But, it’s more in the day to day living that not being able to plan ahead becomes a problem. I’ve become a less reliable friend, as fairly often I have to cancel out of tentative (I learned to set that expectation) plans.
But, the purpose of this blog is to focus on the silver linings I have found in my new life. Amazingly, there are two big additions to my life!!! And, I am loving them both.
Since leaving work, I am able to listen to music every waking minute of my day. This is the first silver lining. I have always loved music, so this is a huge treat. I really don’t remember ever having this luxury before, except perhaps those lazy, hazy days of childhood summer. Immediately, with that thought, “I Think We’re Alone Now” (can you hear the heartbeat?) comes to mind! That’s the first tune I remember singing with friends in front of a mirror, whiling away a hot summer afternoon.
The second silver lining, I reveal hesitantly. I would never, in a million years, have expected this. I am mesmerized with the pond life which shows itself daily in a little water hole on our new property. I study it as often as I can get my legs to take me on a walk around its perimeter, which I estimate to be just short of a half mile.
Please visit this blog again as I will share with you my completely amateur, but delight filled, observations of the sights this pond reveals to me.
SilverLining 