Backdrop to Inspiration

It’s been a long time since I last wrote a blog post. Every time I sat down with my computer to write, I felt overwhelmed by the jumble of thoughts in my head – too much to even begin to put it all in written form. I still feel that way this morning, but I thought I would start writing and see where it would take me.

If you’re wondering how I’m doing, I can tell you that I have felt very good, for the most part. Aside from my obsession with my hair, my chief complaint would be fatigue, which I try to ignore as best I can when I need to get things done. It’s most likely the oral chemotherapy that I will take for the rest of my life that makes me tired. As long as it keeps my blood from attacking my bones and organs, I can deal with it.

So much has happened over the past few months. My “catio” was completed, and I have to say it’s been well worth the time and expense involved. My cats spend more time

out there than I do, although I love it just as much as they do and for the same reasons. With the exception of

the times when my neighbor insists on playing her music loud enough that it can be heard down at the edge of the bay, a good 200 yards or so from my back door, the catio’s atmosphere when it’s quiet includes bird songs, croaking toads, the buzz of hummingbirds at my feeders, and wind whispering through the palms. It’s truly beautiful and relaxing.

Over the past few months, I’ve dealt with tendinitis in both of my hands, and especially my thumbs and the middle finger of my right hand. I finally saw a rheumatologist, who diagnosed me and gave me a shot at the base of my middle finger – ouch! I felt compelled to apologize for being such a pansy, but it was quite uncomfortable. “If it works,” he said, “we’ll do the same for your thumbs on your next visit.” Oh. Joy. He also prescribed an anti-inflammatory, and both the shot and meds have made a tremendous difference already. I can once again open a jar or a bottle without excruciating pain.

There are some other medical issues that I’m still dealing with, namely, the compression of my cervical vertebra in my neck that is the likely cause of the neuropathy that has affected my arms and hands at night. Hopefully, the injection that I’ll undergo later this month will help with that.

Enough. I only mention this stuff because I figure some of you have wondered and would like to know about it.

Now, about the hair. It’s growing out quite nicely, really. It’s thick and the color scheme is typical for a now 60-year-old woman who lets nature take its course. The big difference remains the curls, which Keifer, my ever so insightful and precise son, describes as “not so much like a sheep anymore but more like a shih tzu." I should explain that he made this observation before I had applied my Redken Sculpt and Shine Cream-Serum™ and my L'Oréal Professionnel Hair Sculpting Fibrous Paste™, products which I enthusiastically

endorse, by the way. I am looking forward to seeing how it will present once it grows out, whether the curls will persist or at some point my former straight locks emerge. Either way, I will endeavor to be content.

There are so many heavy issues that weigh on my heart. I would like, at some point in the near future, to address each of them in some eloquent and inspiring way that might sway some soft hearts to firmly commit to boldness and other hearts of stone to become hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). For now, I will leave you with a short video I took just yesterday of the positively adorable brood of baby wrens that occupies a nest in the wall planter next to my front door. Here they are doing their best Don King impressions: