More than three weeks into 2023 already. How did that happen?
The rest of our time in Florida was really nice. Perfect weather. The kids played with their cousins, and we actually didn’t really go anywhere except for dinner. Besides Weekee Wachee, we didn’t even go to the beach. We ended up driving back over two days, which made it saner. We drove for about 6 hours and stayed at a hotel in Georgia, then finished off the drive the next day. We made it back early enough to pick up both Penny and Ginny and to get into bed reasonable enough for the kids to make it to school on time the next day.
The theme right now is “Getting my house in order” – and that includes the physical house and my proverbial house. We ordered a new bed (I actually ordered two by accident, because I’m moron). Got the one setup and the old one disposed of (PITA with the trash company). Lots of small little projects in the house, including putting some semblance of order in our basement storage. I had to do some of that before putting away the lights and the tree. Still have lots to do – I’m keeping a running tally of to-dos of course, and it seems never-ending. I probably have 10-12 items on that list right now that I’m working down over the next couple of weeks (hopefully).
Besides getting the physical house in order, I need to get my personal one right too. I have yet to sit down and do some goal setting and thinking about the coming year. Part of that is to assess whether I continue looking at therapy and what that might look like. I’ve done a little writing over the break (the operative word being little) but that’s a muscle that’s beggingto be worked. I am still doing a weekly training session which is really valuable to me, but I need to supplant that with other activity to go from treading water to making some progress. I’m definitely stronger when it comes to raw strength, but my mobility and cardio fitness could use work as well. I all too often put myself last on the priority list, and finding ways to put myself first (well, at least not last) is something I constantly need to be vigilant about.
The last couple of weeks I have been nursing some back pain. It’s right in the center of my back and seems to be around the stabilizing muscles. Which means that I’m mostly fine, but at random times when I’m getting up or down or simply straightening myself in my seat I get a flash of pain that would bring me to my knees if I wasn’t already there. It seems to be getting better slowly, so hopefully that heals up. I am not used to back pain – normally I have a days worth of pain and it gets better overnight. Part of the issue may be my sleeping – I sleep on my front/side, and that’s the worst position for these sorts of things.
We had a friend of the family die rather unexpectedly last week. A contemporary of my dad, he had one son that died in 2019. As a parent, I can think of no worse thing than outliving my child, so my heart goes out to auntie (his widow). She has a niece that she’s close to and other support, but losing both your child and your husband rather close together is unthinkable. I have other friends who are dealing with older childless relatives (not their parents) and figuring out a way to support them . Not just financially/logistically, but emotionally. It’s a lot. But his death brought up a real sense of the impermanence of life and the inexorable march of time that just highlights the ephemeral nature of things.