I reposted a blog post from July of 2019 on Facebook and Twitter. In it, I talked about the fact that I miss singing because I no longer can do that! I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and last night, I looked at my Mon and told her that I couldn’t believe that I no longer have the ability to sing. Something that was so effortless is now impossible. I used to sing so effortlessly! I never thought that that would happen!
Right now, I am just wallowing in that fact. I absolutely love music and I can’t jam out anymore which makes me sad… all of these thoughts were prompted by this song. I wish I could still jam to it and belt it out:
I’ve known my cousinT, Shannon for all of my life! She’s not even really my cousin! Our mothers were best friends (s are!) in high school. Her mom was concerned that she would not be an aunt for a long time because she only had a younger brother. My mom told Shannon’s mom (my Aunt Linda) that she could be her kids’ aunt. I have tons of fond memories that involve my CousinT, Shannon. Hey
I have written about her often in my blog and I thought of her as I watched All Together Now last night. I reposted a post on Facebook from September 4, 2020 but because the link was so old, it did not show up. This is what prompted me to think specifically of my CousinT, Shannon:
My cousinT, Shannon and I would constantly sing at the top of our lungs whenever we were in the car together! Driving to 7-Eleven, going to the Handy-Dip, and driving to her boyfriend’s house (now, her husband). The best time I had with her was our road trip to Shippensburg Pennsylvania!!! She made the bEST mix for our drive!!! We sang the entire time!!!
Shannon also has long dark hair and she is the sweetest person I know but this song especially reminds me of her because she would sing it BEAUTIFULLY!!! In high school, she participated in tons of things in the performing arts department and she sang in the choir and was in tons of musicals! She is my FAVORITE singer!!!
I can clearly remember going to Meijer with her and with Sean in the backseat. He was still in a car seat and was about 18 months old. I think we were singing to RENT and once we finished the song, in the moment of silence between songs, he began clapping his hands and kicking his feet and yelled, “YAY!!!” I remember us both laughing at that!
But, if I am going to say anything about my cousinT, Shannon, it is going to be that we went to DTE energy music theater to see Train. The first time, Maroon 5 opened for them and the second time we saw them at DTE, The Script and Gavin Degraw opened for them. They were excellent concerts and back when I could still sing and enjoy an outdoor concert. This is my ultimate, favorite picture of us and I have shared and so many times! I was still in my 20s then:
Today, When I opened my eyes, I called to my Mom to help me get out of bed. She was finishing up a phone call so I scrolled through my YouTube feed to discover this gem:
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE This song and I had never seen this live performance before. I stopped watching the video halfway through as my M Mom helped me out of bed and into my wheelchair. I listened to it twice more as I drank my water, took my vitamins, and drink my protein shake. Because my hands were involved when the video stopped, I was not able to get out of my YouTube app.
I’ve had one of these before when I first went organic. It was a bit bigger and the tops were purple and blue. I stopped using it when I realized it wasn’t good for my supplements to not be in dark bottles so I just took each pill out of it bottle when I needed it.
However, MS, being the absolute gem that it is, has begun to mess with my short-term memory! I can’t remember if I took my evening vitamins or not! I had to figure out a way to keep track and let go of the fact that these are for older people. I purchased one last week and it arrived on Saturday:
hey 👋🏼
I looked through the description and I was thinking this looks like what I need! My pills have to be kept in the dark and I have a lot of them so I need a way to organize them but this picture gave me pause before I ordered it:
This pillbox is made for older people! I am not that old! Yet…
I filled the pillbox on Saturday evening and will do it again this coming Saturday. I asked my Mom for help at this time though to make it easier because I can’t control my hands very much these days…
A few days ago, I received my vitamins in the mail. Because of Covid, I am not going to see my Naturopath/chiropractor so I call my vitamin order in and they send it to me. I lined them all up on he desk beneath my TV. No, this is a process! First of all, I am well aware that I am OCD! I’m not embarrassed by it at all! When the package arrived, my Mom cut the package open and gave it to me. I took each bottle in its box and lined them up on the desk:
Looking at my desk, I feel rich! At least I will right now for a little while! The fact that all of these boxes are lined up on my desk leads me to another blog post but I need to think about that still. My Mom watched me painstakingly taking the boxes out of the package and lining them all of according to box size and she shook her head and started to giggle a little bit:
I knew what she was laughing and I just looked at her and completely straight face and told her, “I I am who I am!” The moment those words came out of my mouth, I heard this song and was taken back to being a child:
Sorry for the duplicated picture… I can’t figure out how to delete it…
I spent the morning setting up a background for this particular blog post! I reposted three different posts that explain my reasoning and they also explain my Mom’s clothes washing habit. I will show you all exhibit A and B and will leave you to come to your own conclusion with exhibit C which I discovered a few days ago:
Exhibit A:
This incident took place days before she moved in once she started sheltering in place with me for the pandemic. This is my FAVORITE shirt! Despite being ruined by bleach, I still wore it until it became too large for me. And this will lend itself to exhibit B.
Exhibit B:
This is my Michigan sweatshirt! This one hurt because it added to the hurt of my favorite t-shirt being ruined. Now, my favorite sweatshirt is also ruined!
I discovered Exhibit C a few days ago and I wanted to make sure it was what I thought it was! I was actually wearing the article of clothing but I lifted my right arm up to my face and licked the spot in question and unfortunately, it was EXACTLY what I suspected!!!
Exhibit C:
It was bleach. This is my third article of clothing since my Mom has been living with me that is ruined! I showed my Mom my arm and asked her what it was. She did not know but when I stuck my tongue out and licked my arm I looked at her sharply when I realized that it was bleach, she started to laugh! I explained to her that this is the exact reason why I have not used bleach for my entire adult life!
The only saving grace is that the sweatshirt is on its way out because it is getting too big for me to wear. Both of the bleached sweatshirts are getting too big for me to wear but I still wear them just in case my Mom ruins them further!!!
One thing I have noticed since Leia had her phase 2 treatment, she sleeps all day! Apparently, this two days of shots she had is kicking her butt! But, in addition to sleeping all day, she is restless at night! My Mom told me that in the middle of the night last night, that she heard her rustling a little bit and woke up to find her sitting on her bed just staring into space My Mom got out of bed and rubbed her until she fell asleep. She pulled her legs out from under her body so she could lay flat and pet her until she fell asleep.
Now, she used to do the same thing for my Dad when he came home from dialysis and could not get comfortable laying in their bed. She knew that he needed to sleep and he would feel better so she would rub him until he did that. And since she has been here since Covid, she is of the same thing for me too! I know the power of her rubbing when your body is insanely uncomfortable!
Next week, my Mom will lower her dose of steroids and they will do a blood draw next month to see if she still has worms. If she does not, she can skip phase 3. My Mom says that she is pooping a lot and the vet said that that may be evidence that she is getting the worms out. I hope so because I would rather her go back to running around like a crazy head in the backyard but she can’t do that right now.
I only wash my hair every other day now. Really, my Mom washes my hair. That is a, “Best Case” scenario, if I don’t feel well, it is #DirtyHairDontCare!!! Which has been happening a lot more lately. I say this because today may be a night when my white hair is, “A beacon” as my Mom called it a couple days ago when she took this picture:
I’ve never really been concerned about my looks and I just comb my hair with one of those $.$.99 combs. It’s my Dad‘s comb. He used to get them at the hospital. Luckily, my Mom has brought me a few of them that she is found in closets in her house since he has been gone. I comb my hair in the morning and let it fall how it does. I am interested to see if I will get a beacon tonight but I think that’s pretty possible, I just hope the white hair doesn’t get any friends! At least not anytime soon!!!
Yesterday, as my Mom washed my hair, she asked Siri what time it was and as soon as the phone beeped and she answered, I thought of this song and I can’t get it out of my head. Siri is that it was 3:33.
I think I may be the only person who would think of this obscure song when Siri tells me the time but I don’t mind and I did!
This picture just shows me that looks can be deceiving because my feet are killing me! They have been her name from the moment my Mom uncovered me to get me out of bed. I had her take a picture of how my feet looked this morning after she put my shoes on:
I have been fighting with my feet from the moment I woke up! They hurt! My feet are beginning to pronate.
It hurts so I text Dan, “Phil” A few days ago and yes, he is saved in my phone as, “Phil” Even though his name is Adam:
It was a long text so:
And this is what he told me:
Since this morning, my Mom has been doing that multiple times while I sat there and allowed the tears tears to stream down my face. So, even though my feet may look normal no, they are fighting to turn in word end it is most painful!
