October 9

I interrupt your regularly scheduled update for a PSA…

Please for the love of all that is love and acceptance and respect for others, please register to vote if you have not already done so. Please vote when it is time. Please vote for Hillary Clinton. The latest on dt is horrid. It is the sort of thing that when Amy asked what Carl and I were talking about we had to pause and think very carefully about how to word things to explain the basics of the situation without his actual words. We often tell Sarah and Amy to listen to what the other is saying and if they are saying “no,” especially to something physical, then the person doing the thing needs to listen and stop. DT didn’t listen or stop. He doesn’t think he should. He missed that kindergarten lesson. That is the gist of it. That is not who I want leading our country. I do not think I would be a good president but I truly believe I would do a better job than DT. That is not what I want in any candidate. There are many people with whom I disagree but I still think they would do a better job than I would at being president. So, please vote for Hillary. This should not be a close race in any way. It is as if the country is a truck with precious things in it and the country is deciding whether to have an experienced truck driver do the job or whether the toddler who keeps bashing his toy truck into everyone would somehow do a better job. This is not a hard decision. Don’t pick the toddler who bashes his truck into people and doesn’t listen when they say no. Pick the experienced truck driver who listens and drives carefully and respectfully.

Now back to the update….

Remember when I wrote that I was being so successful in managing my symptoms and keeping my cold mild and my experience peaceful? That did not last. I don’t know if I was just postponing the inevitable or if the time line would have gone as it did no matter what. Last Sunday afternoon I felt great, as if I was all better. Monday I felt the smack down of symptoms and spent most of the week with a terrible, deep, loud cough and a sneezy, drippy nose. I spent two evenings on the sofa mostly upright. I still feel like I learned from the whole situation though. I learned why my cough tends to be worse in the evening when I think I will relax and watch a movie: I tense my body more then and thus cough more. No movie unless it is really really relaxing, like Windham Hill’s Autumn Portrait. I also reframed my nights on the sofa. Usually I have been miserable because my primary focus was sleep and I felt unsuccessful. This time I decided that mainly I was going to be awake and read and then perhaps I would nap some of the time. I kept the light on all night. Both nights were the most peaceful upright nights filled with coughing that I may have ever had. I also shifted to notice that the coughing was important and to let it happen. That helped me become horizontal more quickly because I wasn’t fighting the inevitable coughing fit. I am now 95% better. I also reread Carry On, Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton. It was so so so so good the second time too. She is so wonderfully wise and loving and human and funny.

Sarah got a new palate expander put in on Tuesday. On Wednesday it started coming out again and we had to make an emergency trip to the orthodontist to get it fully removed. They will call this week so we can think about other options because this one no longer seems viable.

We had a wonderful visit with Grammy and Granddad this weekend. I love noticing how far Sarah’s language and sparkly eye connection has progressed. This isn’t new, but visits sometimes give me a nice frame for noticing the beauty of it. In the evenings Sarah would spontaneously say, “Goodnight Granddad and Grammy. See you in the morning.” She often used their names when wanting to tell them something. Sarah loves pretending to throw up in Granddad’s hair and then pretends to wash it. I’m not sure how this started, but for the past year she sometimes pretends that Carl or I are Granddad so she can do her scenario. Meanwhile, Amy is in love with Wally and Perrine, the stuffed animals that came to visit too. She also had a wonderful time making art with Grammy. She clearly observed some of what Grammy was doing and started doing it on her own paper too. Both girls were upset when it was time to say goodbye. 

Lots of love to all of you.