Author: Jen Rios

Yesterday, my brother, Dave, FaceTimed to my Mom as I was getting situated in the bathroom to get my hair washed. My Mom talked with him and somehow, Dave asked me if I remembered how I was made. I burst out laughing uncontrollably and my Mom had no idea what both of us were laughing about.

Because I no longer can control my emotions, I kept laughing uncontrollably which forced my brother to explain the cruel joke he and my brother, Jimmy, used to torment me with. My Mom was completely aghast at what my brother told her as a continued to laugh! Before my Mom started to wash my hair and just as my brother was hanging up with her, my laughter continued and he told her to ask Jimmy about it. He knows!

So, this morning, Jimmy brought over milk to my house. I was still trying to wake my body up and I told her to ask Jimmy about Dave and I laughed about yesterday. He practically said what my brother, Dave, said to her verbatim. I laughed and my Mom asked how that started. Jimmy couldn’t remember either but I came to the door and we both continued to laugh.

He commented that my, “Rios eyebrows” we’re coming in nicely and that my eyebrows look like his eyebrows. He was completely correct in saying that! But when we laughed about the joke they used to play on me, it was really fun to see the laughter on his face just like it was fun to see the laughter on Dave’s face yesterday. As Jimmy laughed this morning, he looked at me and shook his head that he is 41 years old and we are still laughing about it! Dave laughtrr about it just as equally and he is 40. I am 38 and I found it hilarious! I can think that now that I am 38 but when I was five, it wasn’t so funny!

I bought Sean and me mugs to make hot chocolate one Christmas, I think he was 11 or 12. Now, these mugs are EXCELLENT! I got them from signyourname.net and I purchased hot chocolate packets for him and me. I had dark chocolate and he had milk chocolate. It worked out well because his mug has his name on it and my mug has my name on it. They were mugs for my family!

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And:

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The mugs worked out for me as my hand strength worsened and now I only drink any beverage out of mugs. It’s easiest if I hold the mug with two hands. I think it was just before Mother’s Day when my Mom told me that Sean and I have our own mugs but she doesn’t have one. She has been staying with me since March 14th and when she said that to me, I HAD to order her a mug immediately! Sean likes his mug for coffee and my Mom would use mine to drink out of because I still don’t drink coffee. Her mug arrived yesterday. It says, “Abuela” because that is Spanish for, “Grandmother” what does what Sean calls her.

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Now, both of, “My 2 Sacreds” have mugs and I finally I have a complete set!

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And this fact makes me happy! It’s all about the #SimplePleasures man!!!

So, late this morning, just before my Mon and I started a routine, she asked me if we were washing my hair today. I used to wash my hair every single day when I could but now I have to settle for getting it washed every other day because it’s a lot of work and I can’t do it by myself anymore. When I let my Mom know that we are washing my hair today, she grabbed a towel from off of the dryer in my room. She came out of my room with the towel and called to me, “Come on, girl!”

When she told me this, I started adjusting my wheelchair that was in a reclined position to get it to be able to move. I had just finished adjusting it and was about to move when, just as sweet as you please, Leia jumped up from her bed in the living room and ran to my Mom and sat in front of her in the bathroom doorway. I started to laugh and looked earlier and told her that, “She’s not talking to you! She’s talking to me!”

My Mom reached down and petted her head and laughed. My Mom has been calling me, “Girl” for as long as I can remember and I know I have written about that fact here on my blog before. Well, both Sean and my Nom call Leia some variation of girl. Usually it’s, “Pretty Girl.” I told Leia to move aside because I need to get my hair washed. I’ve never had competition before being the only girl in my family but I guess I do now!

My first tears of the, “Stay-at-home” orders were warranted, I think. It was too warm in my house and my air conditioner was not set up in my room so I couldn’t handle the heat. Think that was the primary cause of my tears.

However, I cried yesterday as well even though Sean ordered B dubs for us for Mother’s Day which was absolutely delicious! I was even able to have leftovers for lunch today. But I had an uncomfortable feeling gnawing at me and I couldn’t understand it.

I saw this video on my YouTube feed today:

I shared it on Facebook and I think that my hair will look similar to this (even though I am NOT a redhead like I have always wanted) when all of this is over. I have no idea when all of this will be over and it will be safe for me to leave my house!

I actually think that my tears were because I’ve said before that not much in my life has changed with the, “Stay-at-home” orders. The rising death toll in the United States scares me so I don’t plan on leaving my house anytime soon but one thing that is really making it difficult for me is my overgrown hair and my one eyebrow.

It’s gotten like that now and I think that depresses me. I have always made sure that my eyebrows were well-groomed and even on a fixed income, I still managed to make that happen. But now, I have not gotten my haircut nor my eyebrows done since the middle of February. I think I will say that that is what has made me cry so I don’t have to think about all of the horribleness going on around me!

This evening, my brother, Steve, and his girlfriend brought over dinner for my Mom and me for Mother’s Day. I appreciated that I got in on her Mother’s Day present from him because she’s staying at my house! so, before we chowed down on our Antonio’s, my Mom brought the food into the house and wiped it all down and cut my food up for me because it’s like that now.

As my Mom was in the kitchen, preparing our food, Leia put her front paws on the shelf by the door! She was dangerously close to grabbing tissue out of the box that was there. It was just her and me in the living room and then, “My teacher voice” came out! It startled me because I have an use their voice for almost 4 years. But when Leia got up onto the shelf, it just came out! I think I said something like, “Hey! Get down!”

Of course, she got down because she’s a really good girl! But hearing my own voice definitely startled me! They came out so naturally in the moment but my speech has been a problem for sometime now.

It was kind of nice to hear how my voice sounded so many years ago though. Many of my former colleagues and friends are still teaching and my heart goes out to them for all of the hard work they are currently doing! I don’t think I could do it! But it was nice to hear that when it comes down to it, I still got it! I don’t know how long I will still have it but it got Leia down!

So, today after I brushed my teeth in the late morning because it takes time for my body to chill out. I saw this, actually I knew it was coming but this morning it has come:

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My cousinT, Shannon, brought me this pack of floss picks because when this shut down happened and everyone was sheltered in place, everything was getting hoarded, these particular floss picks were NOWHERE to be found and that really bummed me out!

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Dental hygiene is very important to me and now And I am immunocompromised, it is imperative that I keep my teeth end it gums in good health!

I didn’t really floss growing up but my cleaning just after my 30th birthday let me know that flossing needed to be a daily thing, twice a day. So I have been flossing my teeth twice a day since I was 30. Now that my hand strength is so compromised, these specific floss picks work well for me and I like the taste! So this late morning, I used the last of my gift from my cousinT.

it’s a really good thing that my brother, Jimmy, was able to find and bring these over to me:

SCORE!!! Looks like I will be set for a while and my gums will continue to be happy and healthy!

My Mom washed my hair today. That’s how it is now. It was difficult to accept at first but I have no choice but to accept it. Leia is completely chill about it. Sean was working online and this was her last time because we weren’t sitting in the living room with her:

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My Mom washes my hair in the bathroom. I sit on the toilet seat and she uses the sink. We keep the door open when we do this. So, today it’s freezing and it snowed so it was NOT a three act play as a blow dried my hair. My hair is super long now (by my standards) and it took a REALLY long time to dry it completely but I appreciated the heat because I am having a really hard time staying warm today!

When my Mom transferred me back into my wheelchair, I rolled into my living room to see #MyGirlL in usual form!:

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As soon as I got into the living room, even though my hair was just washed, I put on my winter hat!