Laughing at Myself

It's helpful to have a sense of humor when it comes to chronic illness.  I think I'd go nuts if I took these fibro fog antics too seriously.

Last week I was feeling terrible with an upper respiratory bug.  These illnesses are a challenge to recognize in the sea of fibromyalgia symptoms.  It wasn't until my breathing became labored and a cough appeared that I realized the additional fatigue, digestion issues and foggy focus were exasperated by the virus.

During this time, I continued to drive my children to school and on this one day, I (or we) had a great laugh.  At their school there is a car line at the back of the building.  I was sitting in the stopped traffic listening to the joyful noise of happy kids in the morning (well, two out of three isn't bad).  I remember my mind beginning to wander to what the day would bring me and carefully calculating how much energy I was beginning that particular day with.  Protocol for the car line is that the three front cars let children out and drive off then then next three drive up, drop off and so on.  As we sat, the three cars in front of me stopped and students hopped out and entered the school.  The cars in front of me drove off in single file and staying in pattern, I began to move the car ahead and continue to drive.  As I rounded the corner of the building, passing the drop off points, I heard my son gently say, "Mom?"  I politely said, "Yes?" and he replied, "You…we need to get out of the car."

As soon as they saw me smile, the laughter erupted from all four of us.

I ended up dropping them off at the side of the building and they walked around elbowing each other and laughing together.  If I were lacking a funny bone at that time, I would have missed the gratitude I felt about starting the day on a high note with my three teenagers.

Thank you for reading, forwarding and following!!!
Terri

It's Not All About the Fibro

Although it may seem as though my life revolves around my diagnosis of fibromyalgia, there is so much more to my wonderful life than that.

There's…

*taking my kids to tour high schools for next year
*talking to the greatest sister on earth
*reaching out to my parents and siblings to help move my Mother-in-law
*taking an entire day, to pack my Mother-in-law's apartment, with the kids
*watching my daughters laugh and play together
*seeing my son laugh so hard he loses his breath
*listening to my husband tell me about the toys and various things being thrown back and forth between him and my son
*interacting with my brother on FB
*enjoying wonderful memories of past friendships

There's so much more going on…and I love it!!!


Thank you for reading, forwarding and following!!!
Terri

Children Say the Darndest Things

I was driving in the car with my son today.  I love spending one-on-one time with my children.  I get to hear about what's happening in their lives.  There's time to connect and sometimes teaching moments.

I mentioned how I've noticed his sister quietly observing me while cooking.  First, let me back up a bit and give you some history.  I get distracted easily.  And when I have fibro fog, I often forget what I'm doing.  Because of this, I've burned many-a-dinner.  My three were about 9 or 10 years old when they came up with, what I call, My Kitchen Mantra.  "Never leave the kitchen while cooking!" I've even been chanting this kid generated mantra while cooking and chanted it all the way to my bedroom.  Yup, that's how my brain works sometimes.  So, back to my daughter.  I've left the kitchen, drawn out by some random thought in my head and when I returned, I found my youngest standing in the kitchen stirring the pasta, soup or whatever I abandoned on the stove.  She'd smile, hand me the spoon and go back to what she was doing.

While sharing this with my son, it led into me telling him about the things I've noticed him do.  Lately, during times when my body is in a lot of pain or I'm overwhelmed, he'll gently approach me and ask if he can help in any way.  There are times he'll just say, "I got it Mom.  Why don't you go lay down."  Or a caring, "Are you ok?"  These small moments really make me appreciate these precious beings, my children, even more.  After expressing my gratitude for these moments, he smiled and said, "If or when I have kids, I want them to be just like me."  Oh, I laughed so hard and said, "You deserve to have kids just like you!"  I laughed even harder because I realized that the words coming out of my mouth are words that many Moms have said over the years, but they had a very different meaning.

Our time together was fun, enlightening and definitely had teaching moments.  I think I was the one learning.  They are very wise-beyond-their-years people.  I love it!



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Charlie Horse in My Cheeks

These illnesses never ceese to amaze me.  It is still mind boggling to gently brush by something and feel  radiating heat and pain travel through my leg.  The cold metal plate feeling in the back of my head is confusing as well.  They seem to create a question mark with my doctor's too because they don't quite understand fibromyalgia or what these symptoms are, completely.

Last night, I was enjoying conversation with my husband and he was making me laugh.  I so love to laugh and there are times when I don't have a funny bone, so when I do, I cherish the laughter that much more.  I was laughing so hard that my stomach hurt.  That's a pain I can deal with :)  It's also a pain that makes sense to me.  Then my cheeks started to hurt from the large smile that was created while the laughter burst from within.  Again, this is understandable and welcome discomfort.  All of a sudden, the pain in my cheeks increased and my facial muscles froze.  Both cheek bone muscles were tight, super-balls sitting just under my eyes.  As I realized what was happening, I began to laugh harder and the muscle under my eyebrow joined in on the tense fun.  I was laughing and trying to explain to Ray what was happening.  It's not easy to laugh and talk, but try to laugh and talk with a frozen face.  I realized that I wouldn't be able to release the tension in my face until I relaxed every muscle, so I needed to stop laughing to stop the biting charlie horses.

There has been some question about whether or not my body is experiencing type of Parkinson's Disease.  After this last symptom, I think it's time to see my neurologist again.  I'm glad that the sign urging me to make that appointment was through laughter and not something devastating.  This confirms that the Universe is conspiring for my good and sending me signs to redirect me when needed.  When I'm in tune and aware enough to see the signs, even the most enjoyable moments have their hidden messages.  I don't have to wait for the cosmic 2 x 4 up side the head to make an adjustment in my life.

I guess when my mother said to not make that face because it'll stay that way, she wasn't kidding :-D

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In Search of a Pink Tutu

It's been an unusually busy week and I'm in need of some laughter and fun.  I just don't know if I can muster up enough energy to laugh today, but tomorrow and the weekend would be perfect.  My sleep and daily routine has been compromised this week with the kids' camp schedule.  This was my choice to drive them to and from Boston every day this week and it's worth it to see them having so much fun. I didn't anticipate that the schedule would flatten me as much as it has.  I'm still learning what's doable and what's a struggle.  While I'm recovering, this weekend and next week, I''m going to come up with at least three things to do for pure fun.

My first is to wear a tutu for either running or for a full day.  I saw some awesome, multicolored leggings that would go perfectly with a red or pink tutu.  I like the full day idea....hmmm.  I must think more about this :)  I like how when a child walks in a tutu, there's a bit of a bounce on the ruffles.  That makes me smile.  I'm hoping that if I wear mine for a day, it makes people smile and not call the guys in the white suits.

Maybe I can convince my kids to join me in dance party, in the house, this weekend.  They can teach me the new steps and I can teach them the sprinkler or the Henry Winkler.

On a side note, I'm in bed, hardly able to move my body and I'm lucky there is auto correct on this program, because my fingers aren't hitting the letters needed.  I'm grateful that even with the exhaustion and extreme heaviness of my eyes, that my spirit is flowing through to express what is underneath this shell of a body.  Physically, everything is in slow motion and there is so much I feel I want to do, but I know I must regain my energy stores.

The thing that comes through when I'm allowing myself to go beyond the physical, is finding a tutu, so I can embarrass my kids....I mean, so I can have fun and enjoy some child like energy and laugh.  So far, I have a tutu plan, but no tutu.  I'm sure the universe is working on this already :) Then I have a dance party planned and I need one more plan for fun and laughter.

Nothing is coming to mind, so I'm going to ask for your help.  Please share with me what you do to laugh and have fun.  What do you do to get out of a rut?  Do you have any ideas for me?  I'd love to hear all about them!

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