Category: A Bit Of Randomness

This category is full of randomness that really doesn’t fit nicely into any of the categories having to do with my road to walking.

Ruby

My Dad used to sing this song to my Mom all of the time, especially when she went to get her hair done:

I even put this song on the final mixed CD that I made him for the last birthday he had with us. He was 55. My Dad used to sing the just refrain often. He would just say, “You painted up your lips and rolled your tinted hair.” I never knew until years after he had died and I have gifted him that CD that there is an extra word in that line! It made me smile because my mom also uses rollers to kill her hair.

I never knew until years after he died that the Vietnam veteran in this song who is paralyzed said that, “ If I could move, I’d get my gun, and put her in the ground.” ???!!!

When I heard that line, my eyes wideNed and I beseechingly asked my Mom, is he really going to kill her?! My Mom just laughed and told me that he was. I NEVER KNEW THAT!!! I told my Mom that it is a horrible song but we listened to it a few times last night as I was getting ready for bed and I still smiled when I heard the line my Dad used to sing and just ignored the fact that my Dad was singing a song about killing his wife!

My smile continued after this song ended as I thought of my Dad fondly and him singing. My mom played another song that reminds me of my dad but all I can do when it started to play was cry! She played this one:

My Dad really liked Johnny Cash and even though I’ve never had beer for breakfast, neither one nor two, I smiled at this song too until I heard the line, “ In the park I saw a daddy, with a laughing little girl that he was swinging.” Then, I began to cry. My Dad never swung me on swings but I AM his little girl! I really miss him!!!

Listen

All day yesterday, my right knee was KILLING me!!! I was at a loss. It was terrible! Just TERRIBLE!!! I am just not well today. I shared this video late Friday night because it showed up in my YouTube feed. It’s one of my faves!:

Reminds me of so much!!! I just have to listen to it and…

Sensitive Skin

I haven’t written about Leia In a while but we learned of a situation late Saturday night. My Mom brushed her with the mitts I ordered for her and on Sunday, we noticed that she had bare patches of her coat that showed her skin. My Mom said that it looked like mange. When she said that, this song immediately popped into my head:

You know, because when he stops at the bar in Gatlinburg he sees, “The dirty, mangy dog that named me Sue!” I thought it was pretty gross if she had mange which because of our virtual appointment on Monday, she does NOT! The vet told us to begin the flea and tick regiment and to bathe her twice a week with an oatmeal-based shampoo.

Leia has her first appointment with the vet at the end of the month. The vet said that we should do that and she will determine what is going on at her appointment. She thinks that she may have sensitive skin. My Dad had sensitive skin and hearing that made me think of him. That and the Johnny Cash song!

My Mom bathed her on Monday evening and the vet said to wait 24 hours before we administer the flea and tick medicine. Last night, she was going to put the medicine on her back, between her shoulder blades. Neither one of us have ever done this before and being in the chair, I didn’t think I could be much help.

Leia was NOT all about staying still so my Mom laid her across my lap after I turned the chair off. Her front paws were on the outside of my right armrest and her back paws were on the outside of the left armrest by the control panel. My Mom stood just behind her to keep her steady and Leia was squirming a whole bunch.

it surprised me that I began speaking softly to her to calm her down and pet her head. She kind of started to calm down a little until I rested my right cheek on her head and continued reassuring her in a soft voice. She smelled good because of her bath the night before. She relaxed then as my Mom continued putting the medicine on her back.

Her coat looks shinier and she’s not scratching as much but she will get another bath tomorrow. I think with the administration of the medicine that we finally have bonded, more than I think we have because with me being in the chair, I haven’t really gotten able to get close to her like I did on Tuesday.

Bono or Martha Ford?

So, my sunglasses arrived in the mail today. So naturally, I had to try them on:

I used my phone to see what I looked like and I started to laugh! I don’t take selfie‘s but I thought this one warranted a posting. I had order them from Amazon because I used to buy them from Target for $12.99 until Kim Kardashian says that oversized sunglasses are no longer stylish so they stopped carrying the glasses I normally bought.

I just want to explain that I NEED these oversized sunglasses to block out the sun completely, “Stylish” or not! As my Optic Neuritis has progressed, the sunlight hurts my eyes very much! Even if it is raining out, the sunlight hurts my eyes. I laughed when I saw myself because I thought of two people. So the question remains, whom do I look more like?!:

Bono

OR

Martha Ford?

These are two people that mean a lot to me because I love u2 and I also love the Detroit Lions! 😍😍😍

Regardless of which one I look like, I will be ordering a duplicate pair of sunglasses when I get my next check because these are really comfortable and I don’t know how long they will be available on Amazon and I break sunglasses often.

Hallmark Movies

I watched a Hallmark movie last night. It was the first one I had seen for a really long time! I saw it with my Mom and she had never seen them before and I had seen it hundreds of times. It was called Wedding Bells:

I liked watching it with her because she hasn’t watched 1 million Hallmark movies like I have and she is not familiar with the plot structure of all Hallmark movies like I am. It was strange that the song that playing in the movie has been in my head since last night:

This movie is by far NOT my favorite Hallmark movie like A Country Wedding is but I appreciated the happy ending. My Mom didn’t want to wait until the end for the actual happy ending but I told her to wait, and then it came:

Sean has always asked me why I like these cheesy movies so much and I just laugh. Last night, I realized why I like them. It’s an escape! It has a very predictable ending and I really haven’t had a lasting love story in my life like they are in these movies. I like watching that! And now, that song is STILL in my head!!!

My 4th and 5th COVID-19 Tears

Last night, once my Mom brought in the mail, I received a check in the mail and those prompted my fourth round of tears during the COVID-19 quarantine:

It was the refund check for my deposit on the hall I was to have Sean‘s graduation party. I was so excited to have this party given my history with my own unfortunate graduation parties and it was going to celebrate the fact that I put him through 12 years of catholic education. This one was going to be, “One to beat the band!” But, alas, as I’ve said before – me and graduation parties just don’t mix and Sean isn’t extension of me! It bummed me out to receive this check because I much rather would love to have a huge party to celebrate with my family and friends.

This morning, my Mom was speaking to her sister on the phone and she recounted all of my missed graduation celebrations and the reason for them not being celebrated. No question that both of my Dad‘s open heart surgeries took precedence over celebrating. And for my graduation after receiving my masters degree, he was already gone.

Many parents are changing their kid’s graduation party by limiting the invitation list but I can’t imagine NOT having some of the people I invited to the party there and a lot of my family members are compromised just like I am so I don’t want to spread anything or put them in harms way. As my Mom was telling my aunt these things, my fifth COVID-19 tears started. I don’t know when it will be possible to have Sean‘s graduation party but I hope it is soon.

The Ultimate Anticlimax

So, Friday was Sean‘s locker clean out. It was his final day of being a student at Divine Child high school. I expected it to be a really nice culminating event of his time at Divine Child.

Having a son opposed to having a daughter, I’ve learned to kind of scale things down when it comes to my expectations of his recounting of events for me. School dances were just, ”Good” or “Fun” when I ask him about them. He has always been someone of few words. I braced myself to be disappointed when I asked them how locker cleanout was.

I was not at all prepared to read the response he gave me. He just typed that, “It was a curbside thing and no one went in.” I really can’t believe that his senior year has ended like this! It is the ultimate anticlimax of 12 years of being in the same school! I’m sure that I am just being overdramatic about all of it but I’m pretty bummed! So Sean is finished with high school. Thinking about the socially distance graduation in August outside on the football field stresses me out more though! If I am miserable at commencement (which I most likely will be), I think that will be even more of the ultimate anticlimax!

#MyGirlL: An Update

Well, it hasn’t even been two months and I have decided that I love Leia. She has had a few big events lately and I just want to share a little bit of that so you can see why I love her.

Last Friday night, when my Mom was putting me into bed, Leia was laying in her bed in Sean‘s room. When I had a coughing fit. This has been happening for a few years now. where I begin choking on nothing but the saliva in my mouth. Both Sean and my Mom know how to deal with this. They watch me to see if I can just,“Cough it out” or if I need their assistance by grabbing my hands to help me sit upright or getting me water.

Well, Friday night was a doozy! I put my palms on the armrests of my chair to try to clear my throat by just leaning a little bit forward. That didn’t work so my Mom grabbed my hands to pull me forward. That didn’t work either so she left to get me some water. While my Mom was getting the water, Leia peaked out of Sean‘s room with her ears up. She was looking at me to see what was going on. My Mom came back with the water and I sipped it. Once my throat was clear, I held out my right hand and told Leia, “It’s OK girl, I’m alright!”

My Mom laughed at me because of how I spoke to her. But my Mom did the same thing a few days earlier. She was transferring me back into my wheelchair and it was somewhat of an awkward transfer and I kind of grunted. Once my Mom had me up and standing, she’s sad, “Sorry, honey!” as I got seated in my chair. I looked up at her and told her it was okay and she laughed and told me, “I was talking to the dog” because apparently my grunts woke her up.

My Mom had a dental emergency that needed an appointment yesterday and no one was available to watch Leia. My Mom was talking to her sister on the phone about the fact that she did not want to crate Leia. I learned very early on then I am useless when it comes to caring for Leia. I can’t do anything and we stopped creating her at night after she had been here a week but my aunt offered to watch her while my Mom was at the dentist. So, Leia had her first play date with my aunt and uncle. They are dog people and their dog, Sierra, has passed away.

I will always remember when I went to Florida for treatment. Sean, my Mom, and I went out to dinner one evening and our server came up to our table and introduced herself. Just as Sean‘s face lit up when she told us that her name was, “Sierra.” I gave him the “Death look!” I told him not to tell her that Aunt Lola’s dog has the same name and she left to get our beverages.

We recently talked about this day after we already had Leia and he agrees that it would have been a BAD idea to say that. But I couldn’t convince six-year-old Sean at the time.

So, Leia was well received at my aunt and uncle’s house yesterday and when she got home, she slept for the rest of the night! This morning, as I sat in my wheelchair trying to wake up, Leia got up on her hind legs and put her front paws on my armrest for me to pet her. I lifted my left arm to pet her hand when she saw the infamous bleach stain on my shirt:

So, when I raised my arm to pet her, she began licking the bleach stain. I began to laugh as I pet her head. I think it’s crazy that I love her! Today, as we got ready for the day, my Mom put peanut butter in her Kong. Kroger natural peanut butter won out because I cannot afford namebrand even for #MyGirlL!

A Distant Speck in my Rearview Mirror

So, last night, my Mom and I w arched 13 Going On 30. I haven’t seen that movie in like 15 years or so. I think I was a junior in high school when it came out. I forgot how much I dog and still dig this song!:

It was when this song was playing in the movie that I realized that 30 is a distant speck in my rearview mirror! I am rapidly approaching 40 and 30 seems so long ago! When I realized this toward the end of the movie, I thought of this song as well:

No, this song was my JAM for sure hand for so many reasons but I remember also thinking that 30 was old! If 30 is old, I am SO MUCH older! I’m totally okay with that regardless! At least I thought of some really good tunes yesterday no will be able to access them anytime on my blog!