Life Update

My wonderful mother has had a stroke. Her neurologist calls it a "large" stroke in the occipital portion of her brain, the portion that controls vision. It happened last Sunday evening and I've been with her in the hospital since then. She has lost some vision but we're not sure yet how much and the doctors have no idea whether or not it's permanent. When dealing with strokes, they don't give you a prognosis since strokes are so unpredictable. Right now she is in the "critical" stage where the same clot could cause further damage or a new clot could be released. My brother and I are staying with her in shifts round the clock in the hospital. I have to admit that I'm scared. And tired. I know that it is in God's hands but I wish I had a way to help her. She has been very upbeat so far but today the realities have finally begun to sink in and depression can't be too far behind. Please keep her in your prayers (Hummie, I sent you an email but don't know if you got it or not). Prayers are powerful things and the more prayers, the more power. My mother's life and vision are worth saving. And I love her.

Joy Journal: It's hard to find joy right now, but my mother and I shared a good, long laugh in the hospital this morning and it felt good.

Strength

My mother, soon to be 85 years old, currently has a compression fracture in one of her vertebrae, we don't know which one yet. Several years ago, she fell and broke her pelvis in three places, an extremely painful injury, and while she was still in the early stages of recovering from this she had emergency heart surgery. Several years before that she fell in her driveway and broke her hip and now has a steel rod in her leg. She was rear-ended in a car accident prior to that and as a result, had to have rotator cuff surgery. And yet she still perseveres and lives an active life. Today my husband and I and my brother and sister-in-law all gathered at her house and enjoyed another day with this remarkable woman.

Mama, I love you. Happy Mother's Day.

edited to add:

Joy Journal: My mother.

More Joy

A new (but very wonderful) on-line friend of mine is posting her "Joy Journal" entries on her blog. What a wonderful idea! I told her I'm stealing her idea and am going to add a "Joy Journal" entry to my blog posts. Thanks, Anetka, for a wonderful idea!

Joy Journal: Today I treated myself to a Caramel Vanilla latte with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Bliss in a cup.

Joy Journal

So, just what IS a Joy Journal? In my case it's a little tiny notebook that lives in my pocketbook. The notebook is nothing special to look at, just a little cheapy wire spiral bound thingy from Wal-Mart. Every day I make at least one little handwritten entry in it of something that gives me joy. Somedays it's as simple as "Beautiful weather today", "Light traffic driving into work makes for an easy trip." Some days its things like "A friend that I hadn't heard from in a long time called me today to let me know that she was thinking of me and just wanted to hear my voice." Or "My husband is such a good man. Last night I decided I wanted a Dairy Queen milkshake. At 10 PM this wonderful man drove to Dairy Queen and got us a milkshake. I didn't ask him to, he did it just because I said, "Wouldn't a milkshake be good?" I'm a lucky lady." Some days the little notebook gets numerous entries and some days I struggle to get even one - but there is always at least one thing that brought me joy that day and I need to remember that it occurred, that the day wasn't an entirely bad day. This little Joy Journal is my way of keeping myself from dwelling on bad things and helping me realize I have a good life. Depression runs in my family and I can feel it's tendencies in me. Little things like my Joy Journal help me keep my perspective. As Abraham Lincoln said, "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." And I've made up my mind to be happy.

I Did It!

I got my little sketch journal page finished. Of course, I have several others in various stages of completion, but this one had been missing one little picture on the bottom. I finally decided, enough procrastination - draw something! So I did. Ok, it's not the best, it's a little (a lot) "wonky" but it IS a drawing. Don't know why I had such a reluctance to finish this page, but I'm happy with it now that it's finished. Love the little boxes, like the colors, can see hope for improvement in the quality of sketches - even enjoyed sitting in the chair shown and drinking the Coke after I sketched it! I'm getting there.

This is how it looks finished:Thanks, Anetka, for the new entry for my Joy Journal. You know what I'm talking about.