I’ve been seeing various Fidelity commercials and they are set to an 80s song.
I was alive when this song came out but I was only four years old. Whenever I heard this song as I saw the Fidelity commercial, I thought of my two oldest brothers. My oldest is 9 1/2 years older than me and my second oldest brother is seven years older than me.
I obviously am reminded of the movie, Pretty in Pink, but I think of them because they were older than me when this song and movie came out. I have seen different versions of this commercial four or five times today and I think of them with fondness!
This morning, it was extremely evident to me that it will take me a very long time to fully recover from my power outage at the end of July. I am sleeping a lot during the day even when I do not want to! For instance, I was set to watch the Lions preseason game against the Patriots last Thursday.
I was excited when I watched the coin toss at the beginning and Stafford was one of the Lions players to witness that. Once the game started, Tom Savage was under Center so Matthew Stafford wasn’t going to play in the game. That bummed me out a little bit but there were a lot of other players that I wanted to see. I even had my eye patch on because my eyes are a little bit wonky right now.
I woke up just before halftime and I didn’t even know that I had fallen asleep! I then fell back to sleep and woke up well after the game was over. I haven’t been well since I got back into my house after the power outage.
This morning, for instance, I was really dragging! I sat in my kitchen and it took an exceedingly long time to drink my Kiefer. Sean woke up kind of early because he was called in to work early. My Mom had brought him pancakes that she had made at her house so he joined me in the kitchen to warm them up to have breakfast.
When he was finished, he was putting the gallon of milk back into the refrigerator and I asked him to get me my Adkins shake. He pulled one out of the door of the refrigerator and asked me if I wanted him to open it. I have had to have either my Mom or him open it because my hand strength has gotten so bad that I can’t even open it myself.
I told him that I could do it so he set it on the counter and went into the living room to lounge on the couch. I told him that I didn’t want to brag or anything but I have been, “Playing with my ‘Fuddy Putty’ for nine days so far!”
*** As an aside, when I said, “Nine days,” I immediately thought of my first days at Western and driving with two of my new friends and girls on my floor (Tonya and Marissa) to go to the local Target store. We were strangers until this day and Marissa started singing this song at the top of her lungs when it came on the radio and yelled for us to sing along as well because, “[We] knew the words!“***
Sean kind of laughed when I asserted that I could open my shake of my own. Once I did, I let him know that today would be the 10th!
Sean starts his senior year in 12 days. For me, that fact is absolutely BONKERS!!! We got his school clothes for his upcoming senior year today. For me, it was a bit anti-climactic to say the least!
Because times and my physical abilities have changed so much, he ordered his shoes online. We needed to go to the Men’s Wearhouse to get a tie and pocket square to go with his suit for his senior pictures which are scheduled for next Saturday.
We also needed to get dress shirts that I got them from JCPenney because I have credit there. I couldn’t order his exact size online so we went to the mall to pick them up. His size wasn’t in the store either so we ordered them at the checkout desk. They will arrive in 4 to 7 days to the store. Although we were leaving the store empty-handed, we did stop to get nibblers from Mrs. Fields before we left the mall.
We have always gotten his school clothes from JCPenney. Five Oxford shirts and five pairs of pants. However, since he is in the high school, they only allow him to have Schoolbelles pants. They aren’t open on Saturdays when we were out and about so we will get some pants next week. He will also pick up school supplies by himself next week as well.
My knee hurts today and I am not sure how I feel about this being the last time we get school clothes for him. I didn’t let him know that this was a big deal for me but I guess it kind of was! It all was a bit anticlimactic with ordering things online and placing an order in the store.
I really can’t believe that this is the last time but I was happy to receive those nibblers today; more so than I will ever tell Sean.
Because he drove his car, I was in charge of the aux cord and the music. Of course, I played my jam a number of times and finally explained to him the significance of this song. It played once I signed for my new car. Ali Reda told me to keep my current car because the car I signed for was not available at the dealership to be picked up. I drove back to our second apartment in my last vehicle that was not going to have accommodations. This song played on the radio:
I felt pretty independent on my ride home. Little did I know that the MS that silently raging through my body would have different plans for my independence in the coming years. So that day driving was also a, “Last Time” time than I can clearly remember.
I have heard this song twice in the past two days and I was surprised that I still knew all of the words. Hearing it, I was reminded grade school, my friend Natalie, her house was within walking distance from the school, and her mom always baking. I had to listen to the entire song both times because I had such fond and wonderful memories!
I saw another version of this commercial five times yesterday:
Each time I saw or heard this commercial, I thought back to my childhood and my Parents’ green station wagon. Now, my brothers and I lovingly refer to it as the, “Tank.”
I recently shared that meme on Facebook and sent out a shout out to anyone who had ridden in the Rios‘s station wagon. The entire neighborhood and school rode in that car at one point in their childhood!
Because of that BMW commercial, I most vividly remember riding in the very back of the station wagon with Heather Wells, my cousin, Melissa, and or my cousinT, Shannon, or a combination of the three. We used to think it was such a treat to ride in the very back of the car when really it was just giving my Mom a much-needed break.
My Mom and I recently talked about how bad it really was to have children in the very back because the exhaust fumes would go up and into the car. Retrospectively, we all could have died!
I just laugh about it now and think back to all of us taking our shoes off and putting our bare or stocking feet on the rear window and moving them back-and-forth and singing in unison, “Ooh, Ooh. Stinky feet!” And I think of my Mom listening to oldies on the radio and hearing this song:
I watched Across the Universe a few days ago and I absolutely love the soundtrack! I dig the Beatles because they always remind me of my cousinT, Shannon!
I have posted about songs from this movie but I’m going to add some of The other songs I dig! I don’t think I have posted these songs but if I have, you just get double sugar!
Not one of my favorite Beatles songs but I LOVE BONO!!!:
So all of these songs are basically the entire movie but I really take them! Because this soundtrack is completely Beatles music, it reminded me of another movie with the Beatles songs as the soundtrack, I Am Sam:
I used to sing this song to Sean when he was very small:
The impetus to going down this rabbit hole was a picture my cousinT, Shannon took of me from her third-floor apartment. I was thinking about driving my Parents’ car and listening to the I Am Sam soundtrack on loop. Sean was in the backseat at the time of this picture in his car seat carrier and I was still driving and walking. In other words, it was a lifetime ago! These two soundtracks reminded me of that lost time!
I belong to many closed, MS support groups. I think of these groups as being very helpful to me! I can post things and ask, “The experts” (As I see it) questions because these people know exactly what it feels like in my body! It’s a feeling that you sometimes have difficulty putting into words but I can read their words/memes which is very helpful to me in trying to deal with this horrific disease!
I posed a question today because I have noticed that I have become quite, “Heavy-handed.” I noticed this “Heavy-handedness” by looking at my toothbrush. Sean and I got our teeth cleaned in mid-May and this is how my toothbrush looks now:
I was immediately concerned because my tooth brushes have never looked like that because I get them replaced at my dentist every six months when I get my teeth cleaned. I wasn’t sure but I’m pretty sure this is an MS thing. I asked my friends for some help and immediately thought of this song from this movie:
I got multiple responses to my question and different things that may help. I think I will eventually have to get an electric toothbrush but I am concerned about what that would do for my overall hand strength, fine motor skills, and dexterity. As it is, I can’t hold a pen and write anymore.
Then, I got a reply for a less expensive thing that may help. I ordered it online today. I haven’t even researched electric toothbrushes yet but I already know that it won’t be difficult to afford and I need to get the BEST! I guess I can attribute that fact to me being, “High maintenance” as Sean says even though I prefer to call it, “High standards!”
She suggested that I get therapy putty.
They even have purple! Except, the purple one is the, “Firm” strength so it will take me a while to build up to that. As I searched YouTube for a clip of that song of from Across the Universe, I came across this clip and couldn’t pass it up,(I HAD TO SHARE) because it is really the SAME song!:
These MS support groups really, “Get” me! I posted my question in my favorite group. And my friends DEFINITELY came through for me! When Sean was small, one Easter, I got him silly putty because it was in an egg. I think he may have been too young because he stretched it really thin so it got stuck on a fabric chair. Sean called the silly putty, “Fuddy-putty.” I remember loving that and thinking it was too cute!
The package will come tomorrow and I will remind Sean of the, “Fuddy-putty” but I don’t think he will get it on the couch this time!
Have you downloaded this song yet?! It shows up in my “Recently AAdded” music in my Apple Music app and I HAVE TO listen to it!
Just before I listen to this song:
Because I listen to that song from my U2 playlist, it continues to play and I forgot how much I really liked this album because it is the next songs that play. Reminds me of my early days of teaching and seeing them in concert when I could still walk:
I think it is a little bit crazy that so many of my nieces and nephews are Michigan State fans! I got both of my bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from U of M!!! My niece, Alyssa, came over last week and it took a while for me to realize that she was wearing a Michigan State t-shirt. When I discovered this, I gasped and told her that I couldn’t believe that she was wearing that in my house!!
She told me that it was the only clean T-shirt she had and I Feel like she should have worn a dirty one! My niece, Natalie, is transferring to Michigan State for her second year of college and my nephew, Jonah, is starting college and Michigan State in the fall. What is going on?! No one is going to U of M?!
I think it was last Thanksgiving that my family had at my house where my nephew, Steven, showed up wearing a Michigan State hoodie. I told him that I hated his hoodie so he obligingly took it off to reveal and Michigan State T-shirt! I swear that it’s crazy that I am outnumbered!
My first year at Western, I learned to collect all kinds of T-shirts. I remember when I transferred to U of M (After my MS diagnosis) for my second year, my friend, Catherine, asked me if I did anything at Western other than collect T-shirts because I was ALWAYS wearing a WMU shirt! We had some classes together and we worked at DFCU together also. I collected a lot of Michigan shirts while I was an undergrad but that was 20 years ago! Many of those shirts have since died!
I pretty much live in sweatpants and T-shirts all year round! I have been collecting college shirts recently. I got two Texas Tech T-shirts when they knocked MSU out of the basketball finals! I also have a USC football T-shirt because my Dad had wanted to go there. And, OF COURSE, I had to get a Georgia Bulldogs Football T-shirt because that is where Matthew Stafford went to college!!!
So, I have a bunch of college football T-shirts in addition to my MS Awareness T-shirts and my GMFB shirt (Which I LOVE!!!) but I do not own a Michigan T-shirt. My Mom, bought me a Michigan T-shirt to wear which got me a really excited!
When I put it on today, my Mom asked me what it felt like. I told her that it, “Feels Like Home!” Right after I said that, I thought of this movie and this song:
After I put this T-shirt on, I got cold in my house because the air is on and I can’t control my body temperature anymore. I put on the Georgia Bulldogs sweatshirt Sean got me for my birthday but I know I am wearing the Michigan shirt underneath and that makes me feel good because it, “Feels Like Home!”
