The Glass is Half-Full

Not sure what musical those lyrics are from or even if I got them right - 'kiss today goodbye. the sweetness and the sorrow . . ." But that is the song I cannot get out of my head. Despite the fact that it's Christmas and there is a barrage of Christmas songs on the radio and stereo and everywhere. No Jingle Bells for me. Silent Night is mute. Oh Come All Ye Faithful has left my head. Instead the tune and words that keep playing are "kiss today . . ." or is it "THE day." Whatever the correct words - the sentiment is one I am feeling deeply. It's not this day in particular that I wish to kiss adieu - but this year. 2010 cannot end soon enough for me. While there have been a few highlights - most of which I've blogged about - the low lights are what comes to mind when this Pollyanna thinks back on the year that was 2010. Not only John's cancer - which colored nearly everything since he was diagnosed in February, but my sister Kelli's b

Wally and me watched 'Marley and Me' while I cried about Sandy and me. Once again, I turned on the tv to keep me company while doing crunches and saw that it was the last fifteen minutes of Marley & Me. "Perfect," I thought. "It's been long enough since Sandy's passing that I should be able to watch this without falling to pieces." Well, if ands and buts were candy and nuts . . . oops wrong saying. What I mean to write is that if I had to eat my words everytime I said something that was later proven to be false, I'd be a whole lot larger than I already am. I fell to pieces within moments of watching. And dear, sweet, havoc-wreaker Wally just looked at the tv and then at me, cocked his head and began to lick away the tears. I'd like to think he was being kind but I think instead he liked the taste of the salty tears. He was curious when onscreen there was a full head-shot of Marley - again, he cocked his head and watched and them res

Okay the glass may be half full, but right now it's filled with something other than liquids. I feel like crap. That's all I can say about that. It was a possibility that the crap was going to hit the fan - stress isn't kind on the bodies of people with MS. And while a lot of the stress I've been experiencing lately has been good (state championship games and high school play rehearsals and Thanksgiving and a new puppy) - my body is reacting. I won't go into all the gory details - suffice it to say that walking is challenging, fatigue is my new BFF, and numbness all over is the new 'normal'. It's a half-full glass of suckiness. I actually have a home nurse coming tomorrow to load me up with solmedurol - an IV steroid. It's an exacerbation and I have been fortunate (see there's a positive) to have had few of these in my nearly 20 years with this awful disease. I hate that I have to use a cane. I hate that I can't take my little black hav

Puppies are like toddlers - in oh, so many ways. Some of them adorable and some are less so. In recent weeks with Wally (Wallace when he's being less than adorable) I am reminded of: one, when the three-not-so-little Piggins were toddlers; two, the movie and book "Marley and Me" and; three, why puppies are not for the weak. Like a toddler, when Wally isn't getting the attention he apparently believe is his due, he acts out and becomes Wallace. Like right now, I am trying to catch up on my writing and laundry and he is sitting on the coach (a no-no), ripping various papers to shreds (also a no-no especially when it's homework) and trying to jump up on the table or counter (again, frowned upon big time). I find that I am trying to pick my battles - but do there really need to be so many of them? Wallace might begin to think his name is "Wally No". I had the same thoughts when the kids were toddlers. Only they didn't try to shred papers and they we