Author: Jen Rios

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #100 OR “Those Were the Days!”

A couple days ago, my mom and I were listening to music just before I was getting ready for bed. My Mom is NOT a big fan of my music but she WILL listen to some U2 songs with me sometimes. We put on a playlist in Apple Music. My Mom tells me that it was the 60s playlist. I was okay with listening to the songs with her and just before my Mom went to turn her phone off, the beginning bars of this song came on and my eyes got really wide!

I never have paid attention to who sings this song but once they started singing the words, I sing along with them! I was immediately taken back to my childhood and this song specifically reminds me of going to the Apple Orchard with my friend Shannon. She has two brothers just my brothers’ ages and I remember us all sitting in the back of their van and singing this song at the top of our lungs! This memory is over 30 years old but it was clear in my mind and warmed my heart and reminded me of simpler times! Retrospectively, those REALLY were the days!!!

ALMOST Forgotten Tune #99

I checked the weather as I opened my eyes this morning.:

Oh! 0°. No wonder! Before my Mom came to help me out of bed, I thought of this song and remembered putting together Sean’s storage for his toys when we still lived with my Parents. We kept the storage shelf in both of our apartments. I don’t know where it is now.

My 18-year-old memory is of me playing this song on loop as I put the shelf together. I sat on the floor in our bedroom and put it together. Today, it’s pretty “hard.” #MSsucks!!!

NOT a Holiday

I first started watching professional football, (Lions football)in 2009 when Sean began playing football when he was 7 for the Dearborn Lions. That was when I first fell in love with Matthew Stafford. I can’t even begin to think about what next season is going to look like without him as a Lion but that’s a completely different subject.

I clearly remember going to my brother, Steve’s, house to watch the Super Bowl in 2011. It was the Steelers versus the Packers. I wanted the Packers to win and I think it was a couple years later that I ordered Cheeseheads for me and Sean. I received them after the Packers were eliminated from the playoffs.

it was in 2009 when I first began watching the NFL network religiously. Sean and I would wear our Cheeseheads during the playoffs but we have never got to wear them for the Super Bowl. I was hoping that would change this year but they were also eliminated.

The Super Bowl in my house has been a holiday every year! I save money to get my “Bandwagon T-shirt” (as Sean calls it) ordered after it is decided who will be playing in the Super Bowl.

I go all out for Super Bowl food! I would order pizza AND cinnamon sticks or I have placed an order at B Dub’s at noon for a 6 o’clock pick up of family size boneless wings, artichoke dip, AND cheese sticks.

But this football season has been completely different! Now that I am sheltered in place with my Mom, someone who is definitely NOT a football fan, this whole season has been strange! I checked football scores on my phone rather than yelling at my TV. I did NOT order a shirt to wear for it because I’m indifferent to both teams in it and I don’t have money for that anyway.

I’n not going to order food this year and that feels weird. But I AM going to watch the game because STILL LOVE football And I have four Rocket Mortgage squares riding on this game and I could win “50,000 smackers!”

But, it does make me a little bit sad that this Sunday will NOT be a holiday!

“Run!”

My Mom and I watched a movie last week that I had not seen since I might’ve been six or seven and my parents, my brothers, Jimmy and David, and me walked down to the Camelot theater to see. It was super close to my house growing up and we walked there often:

The theater is no longer there and it is now a fruit market. Pulling up this map on Google made me laugh because to show the distance from my house going up to the theater, they chose to use Miller Road as a way to get there.

I will never forget the debate we had as to the shortest way to get there. My brothers said that we should take Miller Road but I thought we should go down our street and turn once we got to Warren Ave. to the corner where the theater was.

It was decided that my Mom would accompany my brothers and walk down Miller Road as my Dad and me would walk down our street and turn on Warren Ave. and then get to the corner.

So, we all walked down one block on our street and then at the corner, my brothers and my Mom walked to Miller Road. And before they got to Miller Road, we all set the rules. There was NO RUNNING ALLOWED and whichever group got their first would be correct and have bragging rights.

My brothers and my Mom walk to the corner and my Dad and I stayed on our street. Once they had gone to the corner we yelled, “Go” and we all began walking.

I think my Dad and I must have walked six or eight steps before he turned his head to the right and looked down at me and told me to, “Run!” Now, I was only six or seven, so of course, I was going to do what my Dad told me to but I had NEVER seen my Dad run! I think we ran for a block and a half before we stopped and he told me that was good enough.

We all got to the theater at the same time and a few years ago, I told my Mom about seeing my Dad run and she laughed and told me that they also, ran. I found these pictures of the Camelot theater:

The one on the left is how I remember it and the one on the right is how it ended up looking before it became a fruit market. My Mom and I watched, Quigley Down Under on Netflix and we reminisced about this exact day because this is the movie we saw at the Camelot.

February 2021 Faves

I’m posting this a day late and it’s not faves, but rather just one song. I don’t know that I would even categorize this as a, “Fave” but I am currently immersed in this song:

Since I heard this song a few days ago, I can’t seem to listen to it without crying. It starts off as ugly cries and then just tears. The first three lines ABSOLUTELY tear my heart out!!!:

I wonder how long it will take for me to stop crying when I hear this song…

#MyGirlL: Finding her Voice

Yesterday evening, Leia talked to my Mom. In the 10 months that we have had her in our house, she has become accustomed to taking two walks a day. One in the morning and one in the evening. On these walks, she prances around, will spin in a circle, and hop. She’s a really happy dog!

But, we got her at the end of April when it was warm outside. Last night, when Leia started talking to my Mom, it was 25° outside and it felt like it was 14°. It was dark outside and my Mom was tired and just didn’t want to go. She made that video to send to Sean to have him come over and walk her.

My Mom says that she wasn’t speaking sweetly to Leia like she normally does and didn’t like that it sounded that she was not sweet to her in the video.

My Mom is COMPLETELY sweet with Leia all of the time! So much so, that I had to kind of check her a little bit when she was speaking to Leia and loving her up, she called Leia, “My baby girl!” I had to stop her there because I AM her ONLY ”Baby girl!”

after my Mom sent that video to Sean, she got up and put her coat on and took her for a walk. This was Leia 30 minutes after they got home:

I’ve had my blog for a long time but haven’t figured everything out yet so I will post the video of Leia talking to my Mom on both Facebook and Twitter in a little bit. You can hear music in the background because I was watching a Hallmark movie not because I am sophisticated and listen to classical music for recreation or something.

But Then…

This morning, this video randomly showed up in my Facebook feed and this song reminds me of my first night at Western and driving down E. Pond Dr.:

I had written a blog post about this song a few days ago and this was more spring time at Western after I was diagnosed and I was pretty sure I wasn’t coming back to go to school there…:

So, I was lost in my memories of being a carefree student at Western and being able to drive. I was just going to write this blog about that.

But then…

I got a notification from my MS support group that specifically focuses on music. I absolutely love this group because it’s pretty large and I can see and hear random songs that I have forgotten about. I had never heard this song before but when I did, I listen to it three separate times before I stopped ugly crying. So many lyrics spoke directly to me and I just allowed myself to cry:


Another Technical, “#SuperBinge”

Based on so many of my Facebook friends telling me to watch Bridgerton, I finally started watching it late Wednesday night. My Mom is not a fan of series and I didn’t want to take over the TV. I just watched it on my phone in my bed.

I posted on Facebook when I would see an episode and people told me that they couldn’t believe how disciplined I was just to watch one episode a day. I was told that they had binged it in one day.

I am a huge fan of and have done a few, “#SuperBinges” of my own! Game of Thrones in 10 days was a lot and the first 13 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy and one summer was also a lot. I just really didn’t want to binge this in front of my Mom.

Well, I saw episode three the night before last and my Mom took Leia for a walk, so I watched episode four on my phone in my wheelchair in the living room. Many of my Facebook friends had talked about the Duke as being so attractive but I really wasn’t feeling that until three episodes in.

After I was ready for the day, I put my glasses on and told myself I was just going to watch episode five. NOT a GREAT episode to watch with your mother in the next room! But then I was hooked and HAD to complete my, “#SuperBinge!” So, yeah, these scenes were uncomfortable to watch knowing that my Mom could hear them but I lowered the volume but completely got swept away with the storyline!

So, now I have to wait for season two to come out but I think I may have to forgo sleep one night to binge it without inconveniencing my Mom or making me uncomfortable!

I DEFINITELY would recommend the show but be sure to be mindful of who you watch it around. Even at 38, it was a little uncomfortable to know that my Mom knew that I was watching it! AND I am DEFINITELY into the Duke now!!!

Smiling?

My Mom asked me the same question she asked me two days ago as she helped to get me out of bed. She asked me what I was smiling about. Today, seeing that this was the second time that she has asked me this in a couple days. I told her that I was NOT smiling. I told her that I was gritting my teeth.

My sleeping habits have changed so much over the years! While I was still working, I used to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to be at work by 7:40. As my disease progressed, it got progressively harder to get out of bed and ready for work. I had first hour prep and after providing a doctor’s note regarding my condition, and I was able to arrive to work as late is 8:45 because second hour started at 9:15.

While I was still working and before I started working out at Barwis, I slept like a vampire. I laid flat on my back and did not move the entire night. Once I started working out at Barwis, I was able to move around a little bit in bed as I slept because I was regaining muscle strength and flexibility.

Michael Rhoades challenged me to lay on my stomach for 10 minutes before I went to sleep to help my muscles that stay contracted all day because I am seated. This was extremely difficult in the beginning and I could only last four or five minutes at a time.

Now, fast forward to a second knee surgery and it’s painful to sleep on my back because it really hurts my knee. Rather, now, I sleep on my left side so as not to put pressure on my right knee because my right knee is on top of my left knee.

Fast forward a little bit more and being four years after surgery and four years removed from working out at Barwis things have changed again. My Mom will help me to get into bed and she will cover me as I am laying on my left side. Then, she will tuck the covered underneath me and grab my right hand and pul me toward her so I can lay mostly on my back and will mindlessly play Word Connect or solitaire on my phone as I try to relax in order to fall asleep.

Currently, I am watching Bridgeton which helps me to get into a mindset to drift off to sleep. Because my Mom has tucked the covers under me, I can roll over to my left side by grabbing the edge of the bed. And now, almost 4 years removed from knee surgery, I can lay on my stomach for most of the night. I really should tell Michael Rhoades about this!

Anyway, so when the morning comes, or almost afternoon, sometimes I can roll back over onto my back by myself so my mom can put my shoes on for me and other times I need my Mom to help me. As I am rolling over onto my back by myself or she is helping me, I grit my teeth because it is painful. I kind of like that my struggle looks like a smile even though it is NOT!!!

Retrospectively

This song showed up randomly in my Facebook feed and I saw it once I woke up. I had to listen to it as my Mom helped me out of bed. I was taken back 20 years as I drove on E. Pond Dr. on Western’s campus. Retrospectively, I think we needed a little more and then patience. But this is a great song!:

I am quiet today.