Skip to main content

I'm melting

I love the Wizard of Oz. My favorite production, of course, was the one done by Holland High School in 2011. My second favorite was the one done by the Peanut Butter & Jelly Players in Saugatuck with director Justine Kinnaman and a cast of children, teens and yours truly in the coveted role of the Wicked Witch. I was perfectly awful of course - but I had such fun being a little wicked. (I couldn't be too wicked and scare the audience of children).

The favorite scene was when the witch is doused with water and melts - the cast loved that scene because they actually threw water on me, the audience loved that scene because they wanted to see me melt, and I loved that scene because the lines "I'm melting. Oh you killed me and my wicked loveliness " Or something to that effect. Such fun to act out.

Well, I catch myself these days uttering those words. And not because I'm being doused, but because like 50 percent of this country, there is a heat-advisory where I live. We were in DC for one day when the temps reached 90 and for two days in Boston when they reached upwards of 90 - so I experienced how much worse the heat can be in a major city. And I pray that the city residents experiencing this heat are able to find relief.

As a person with MS, the heat can affect me more quickly than before I had this damn disease. My jaunts outside to 'soak up Vitamin D' or to water the flowers or to get the mail need to be shorter. And Lord knows how I love my Vitamin-D-soaking and how sad it makes me that on hot days it's less of a soak and more of a quick dunk.

While in Boston at the North Church, for instance, I was sitting in one of the enclosed pews where there was little air circulation. Within a minute or two, I felt overwhelmed and almost claustrophobic  fanning didn't ease heat's effect. I needed to get out near a window where the breeze could cool me and to sit still. The walk to the car was slow and I was happy for the shady path and even happier to feel the car's air conditioning.

With those thoughts in mind, I am thinking of all of my fellow MS'ers; especially those in cities or without air. Because, I imagine you're feeling a little like that green lady. You're melting.
From the Holland High School production of a Wizard of Oz.
The Wicked Witch is Geneva and the Good Witch is Delaney.

Comments

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

Parenting

I just read a post on Facebook regarding the dearth of parenting. The poster was describing a scene where two young girls were pelting rocks at some ducks in our little town and how he observed no parents around telling these girls that it was wrong to torture little innocent animals. Within hours, there were 15 responses - all alluding to a lack of parenting that is evident nearly everywhere today. Stick with me here - because that conversation reminded me of one I'd had recently that might not seem related to parenting at all. It was with my oldest son about his concern about the selfishness of our culture - most recently evident in the Wall Street meltdown. He believes that we are too focused on "Me" and not enough on "We" and if we had a little more focus on the total and just not our part, we would be in a much better place. Still there? Okay, here's the cement that will hold this together - those girls pelting little ducks with rocks weren't likely...

Tough time to be a Pollyanna

Remember when 9/11 was just a date or a number you called in an emergency? Our lives changed dramatically post 9/11. For weeks after that September day, we seemed to walk around in a fog, like the haze that loomed over the now-fallen twin towers. I remember trying to minimize my obsession with the news, trying to keep the three little Piggins away from the enormity of the disaster. Remember when corona was simply a beer best served with a lime wedge? It now and forever will be instead associated with this virus that has upended our world in ways we could never have imagined. This tiny little, microscopic virus has brought the mighty to their knees. It has us quarantined and distancing socially (though I believe we've been doing this emotionally for years) and working from home. As anxiety peaks, our economy tanks. As toilet paper and hand sanitizer flies off the shelves, we are looking for new ways to stock our pantries. A good friend observed, "I never thought I'd...

Emily Post of wheelchair etiquette

I've been in my wheelchair now for over a year - sometimes it seems like 20 and others times seems like days. Depends on a lot of things including my mood for the day (whether my 'get-up-and-go' got up and went), the weather (let's face it even the heartiest of Michiganders don't always want to venture out in blustery, snowy or icy days) and what's on the agenda (if I have a date with my hubby or going to see the not-so-little Piggins). Another variable, about my attitude towards the wheelchair, however is what I believe I will receive from some people when they see me in the wheelchair. What I mean is, some people see ME in a wheelchair and others see me in a WHEELCHAIR. Many times someone will see me coming and give me a look of sorrow or pity - it's a look that gets under my skin and makes me want to scream "You don't see me -I'm not pitiful I'm in a wheelchair!" (actually, what I want to scream sometimes includes a few four-letter...