Last month, I started writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa in our Stafford Challenge small group. I’m continuing so that I can experience the entire deck of prompts. One thing I appreciate as a writer is that during times when I’ve barely got my head above water with all the energy and demands from life and work, there are prompts to get me started – – which, of course, is the most important spark. Today, the prompt hits home in tender spots, asking us to write about what we feel when we see a homeless person holding a sign on the corner or to tell about a specific person that perhaps we didn’t pay attention to.
I’m taking the week to write list poems of all the things I’ll do when I retire. They say we should never retire fromsomething, but instead always to something. So I’ll retire to some work and some play, but I want to steer my own wheel and throw away the clock. Today is day two of five days that I’ll list ten things I’ll do when I am officially off contract for life.
First, a review of yesterday’s list:
I’ll write into the day.
I’ll visit the library twice a week to check out new books.
I’ll read into the evening by the fire, dogs in my lap..
I’ll shop at the farmer’s market for fresh fruits and vegetables.
I’ll cook things fresh-grown and scrubbed clean.
I’ll take morning walks with the dogs, strolling instead of hurrying.
I’ll make pictures and put them on calendars and notecards.
I’ll pick wildflowers.
I’ll put the picked flowers in the flower press.
I’ll make bookmarks with my pressed flowers.
And now for today’s list:
11. I’ll savor my coffee, linger longer before showering.
12. I’ll meet friends for lunch.
13. I’ll design patterned rag quilts.
14. I’ll cut flannel quilt squares and stitch them in rows.
15. I’ll go to sleep when it’s dark and awaken when it’s light.
16. I’ll wash my dishes by hand in warm water with fragrant dish soap and blow the bubbles.
17. I’ll bake fresh, healthy muffins with bananas and chia and flax seeds for breakfast.
18. I’ll volunteer to drive someone to a doctor’s visit each week because I understand the village we all need.
19. I’ll make a big pot of soup every few weeks to freeze and give to chemotherapy shut-ins.
20. I’ll pick my own apples in North Georgia.
What are your favorite things about retirement?
Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers at Slice of Life
I began vestibular therapy for vertigo last week after a five year ride of progressing intensity and frequency, and the older I get, the more I realize I’m my mother’s daughter. Mom suffered migraines most of her life – the kind where she had to go to her room, draw the blinds, put on an eye mask and take to the bed for the day in complete stillness. We had to be completely silent and not move around the house where she could hear our steps or our talking or breathing. .
My father, still living, has had bouts of vertigo from time to time throughout his life, his episodes bringing dizziness and nausea. He does not have headaches with his.
So I come to this psychedelic DNA altar honestly.
I answered all the hundreds of questions to help them fine-tune my triggers.
Yes, I’ve done some of the exercises I watched on YouTube. I have tried the Epley maneuver and it only makes me sicker and does not stop the movement. I use an Iso Cool pillow, have used one since 2008 and replaced it several times and they don’t make them like they used to – and yes, I’ve tried every kind of pillow out there. I sleep on a memory foam mattress, the kind that arrives in a box you have to cut open and watch rise like dough for 48 hours. I have four inches of memory foam toppers on top of that. I fight three dogs and a husband for space in that bed most nights. Bags…. let’s see, I carry a leather tote bag always on my left shoulder, rarely my right. That’s for work. I usually wear either a leather backpack or a canvas one with RTID if I’m going out for the day on a personal excursion, but only the tote bag is overloaded. No regular traditional purse for me. I do not eat a gluten-free diet (yet, anyway, but it sounds like I might be Googling that up when I get home). I prefer cloudy days to sunny ones – always have – the darker and stormier the better, probably because I don’t feel guilty reading on those days. I prefer cooler temperatures to warmer ones but I like to wrap up and find warmth in the cold. I sleep on my sides, my stomach, my back – wherever I can find sleep. I don’t have sleep apnea or snore unless I have a nasal cold. I take Melatonin to help me relax, and it helps me get to sleep but not stay asleep. Heck yes, my work life is stressful, and I use a computer a lot, especially during data windows where I’m disaggregating data in spreadsheets for days on end. I do have blue light glasses just for that. Yes, I work directly under a fluorescent light in a cubicle. No, I have not adjusted my computer light to low with the yellow glow, but I’ll add that to the list of to-dos. I do carry stress in my neck and feel eye fatigue. Yes, my home life is pretty quiet. Just my husband and me, our three spoiled brat schnoodles, and a lot of writing and reading with early dinners just like all the rest of the old folks we know – it is a place of peace, not triggering any headaches. And yes, I get at least 8 hours of sleep at night.
Yes, I get nausea. The kind I wish I could throw up and get it over with, but it takes hold and won’t turn loose.
Yes, I get a headache with my vertigo, but I must distinguish between the pressure headache and the painful headache. My vertigo headache is not the one with localized throbbing pain. My vertigo headache is a pressure headache – weird and uncomfortable, but distinctly different from the headache that comes at 3:00 like clockwork for some, on the heels of a day that was over the top. Describe the pressure headache? Sure. Please excuse my TMI here, but it’s like my brain has gas and gets bloated and there’s no valve. My right eye goes wonky like it pulls down a little like maybe that’s where a tight balloon is tied off and yet there’s no valve to release any of the pressure because I can’t let it out through my ear.
Describe a day of vertigo and what that’s like? That’s a post for tomorrow.
I’ll share my journey so far across 3 days this week, because I’ve learned more in two hours than in all the past 5 years put together.
Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers at Slice of Life
Common Threads 