Going along

 It's been weeks of agony here, folks.  I can not keep food down and I'm nauseous all. the. time.  Yesterday I finally went to the hospital, where they hydrated me with a bag full of vitamins and minerals.  Finding a vein was the hard part, as anyone whose ever been dehydrated can tell you.  But they called in "The Man" as I called him, and he took awhile finding one but he triumphed and I was over the moon.

My daughter and son-in-law took turns being with me.  The nurse found a med for nausea that actually worked and allowed me to rest for awhile.  Those ER beds are NOT comfortable, and my back was screaming at me.  My SIL dutifully (and lovingly) found ways of stuff a pillow behind me to provide relief.

I'm home now, and hydrated, and a feeling better than I have in days. But I still have a way to go.  I'm down 40 pounds since March 28 and it's been a terrible way to drop weight.  I am confident I will pass through this phase and when I'm on the other side we'll all have a good laugh about it, right?

I just heard on the news about the elementary school shooting in Texas.  Read it in the NY Times.  Not even going to turn on the t.v.  We all know the story too well by now, don't we?  We are a sick country.  Maybe should amend that to say sick politicians, who lack a moral backbone and won't do a damned thing about gun control, even though most of the country wants them to.

I've been tuning out the news and most television, since while being sick, I find I get motion sickness watching the screen.  I'm okay with that.

Looking forward to better days.

A Mothers Day/The Role of Women

Two different origin stories on "Mother's Day."  The first one, the one I believe, is told by Heather Cox Richardson.  Women were so appalled at the blood spilled during the Civil war and Franco-Prussian war that they strongly believed that women should take charge of world affairs in the 1870s. The second, in 1908, was created in America to honor women as mothers.  So it has been for one hundred and  fifty years, that women are still largely relegated to their maternal roles and not so much their role as powerful leaders.

Today, on Mother's Day, apostrophe, I was not up to doing anything with the family, so I took it easy at home while they did what they did.

Here's my mother at a tender age.  This was the first Mother's Day without her.  On May 28 of last year, she died of complications of Parkinson's.  My dear friend Robin was the only one of my family or friends to acknowledge this.  She is a good one, that Robin, keeping note of important life passages such as this.

Mom wasn't really a big fan of the day.  She called it "a Hallmark holiday."  But still, we made cards and gave her flowers when we were children.

I trust by this time next year I will be feeling better.  Right now I am still struggling to get nutrition after my bariatric surgery.  I didn't imagine it would be this difficult: no food goes down easy and everything, including water, makes me nauseous.  Still.  Ugh.  I'll meet with the doctor again this week.

For those of you who celebrate the day, I hope you had a lovely one.  For those of you who don't, or are indifferent, I'm there with you.  I'd much prefer it be about women taking over world affairs, especially during these dark and backward times.