Not Sure What to Post
I feel rather stymied about posting at the moment.
Part of me feels quite desperate to communicate with you and to receive comments, because your comments are VERY meaningful to me. But, another part of me finds it hard to write.... not because I don't have a helluva lot to talk about.... I do! But, because some of it is rather harsh... related to the two things I allude to in my previous post...... I keep trying to "hold my tongue" so-to-speak, because a) my griping about the two at work does not feel fruitful, and b) the sadness about the family situation is not something I can speak "specifics" about.
So.... with the above two weighty subjects (at least weighty for my emotional well-being), I need to talk about other things. Here is a bullet list of random thoughts:
- I find the situation in Gaza to be very worrisome. I am fearful that the loss of life there may grow exponentially.
- Late last week I "Ran the Year". This means I had hit the point where I had ran 2,023 miles (~3,256km) in 2023.
- I am thinking of trying to get the "triple threat" vaccination this weekend..... the vaccine for the new Covid variants, the vaccine for this years flu, and the vaccine for RSV. If I get the injections on Friday, I do have the option, if needed, to stay in bed all day Saturday.
- My SIL is now at risk to potentially lose her foot... and it is NOT the foot with the missing toes. She has some sort of massive bone decline and degeneration in her foot that is a result of neuropathy and poor circulation. She has a cast on at the moment in an effort to try to fix the problem, but I am not really sure how well it may do so.
- My wife and I are both finding a great deal of positive aspects of our faith at the nearby Catholic parish. It feels very much like "home" in many ways. But, we still feel a bit off, because we do miss folks from our closed parish. The one church where we found a fair number of our old parish is rather far away, and does not feel as emotionally comfortable. My wife and I both still feel dismay at how our parish was closed.
- There seems to be a nationwide shortage of my Fiber One cereal. It has been missing for at least 6-8 weeks in our region. Even though it is actually only one of the three very high fiber cereals I blend together ( I blend Fiber One (45%) , All Bran Buds (45%), & Grape Nuts (10%)) to eat for breakfast, its absence is felt. I hope it returns soon.
- While I do not have any appreciable "yearning" for my pipes at the moment, I do desperately MISS my pipes. I guess I have to clarify this a bit. When I feel a sense of "yearning" for my pipes, I feel almost a compulsion to want to smoke them. It sort of feels like that absence of them is like thirst you feel if you are near a point of dehydration. That is not what I am feeling at the moment. Instead, I just feel deeply a sense of MISSING my pipes emotionally. I want them back. But, all I can reason through are the memories of the way it was and used to be. I have lately had running through my mind various snippets of lyrics from the song "The Way We Were"... such as "It all used to be so simple then." I want my pipes. But, I also want them to transport me back to that simpler time.
4 Comments:
I'm glad that you're experiencing a spiritual renewal, Professor. That's half of the battle right there...
Professor, I've heard conflicting stories about having the COVID and flu and RSV vaccinations simultaneously. I know the public health folks want to encourage vaccination, and some protection is better than no protection, so it makes sense to greenlight people's getting multiple vaccinations at once.
But I've also read that we still don't know all we might like about the RSV vaccine and that there's no inherent benefit other than convenience in getting multiple vaccines at once (though that is EXACTLY what the military did years ago with new inductees, line them up and give them multiple shots in assembly-line fashion).
So, if your pharmacy or doctor's office is convenient, I think you might want to schedule the three vaccines at two-week Friday afternoon intervals, just to be sure they don't compromise each other or knock you down too hard with side-effects.
Regarding the hurtful situations in which you find yourself, I keep thinking of the old "Serenity Prayer" which counsels us to recognize the situations we cannot change, and to let go of trying to change them. Trying to change what we cannot change will only bring pain. Better to grieve the loss of relationship or opportunity, and then move on to happier matters where we can make a difference.
And now that you have "run the year" with more than two months to spare, maybe it's time for you to start thinking about your running vows for next year. Perhaps instead of miles, you may want to commit to a fixed number of minutes per week... then see throughout 2024 whether that means increased miles thanks to practice/exercise, or decreased miles due to the vagaries of age or injury.
You seem to have such an active mind and a desire for an active life, enough so that I expect retirement would drive you crazy. So retirement by itself wouldn't transport you back to a simpler time. But if you could get your finances in order to make retirement possible, I can absolutely envision you opening an old-school tobacconist's shop, with no cigarettes or vaping supplies, just pipes and cigars and the opportunity to enjoy the fellowship of like-minded customers. Even if it isn't feasible, Professor, maybe it's something you can dream about? :-)
Not Sure what to post?
You shoulda use a Post cereal. 😎
I am taking a few days off from blogging. I was blogging too frequently with too much humdrum topics. At least that's how it was feeling.
Where you feel at home is where you should worship, in my opinion. I'm sorry for the work and home stress. I don't know how I would handle the two since I'm retired and "only" have the family issues to deal with. Sigh.
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