Monster on the Top Bunk

I woke to the sound of the third floorboard from the bed groaning its displeasure for being distrubed before first light.  Deep in winter, it would remain surly till well past 9:00.  A whiff of iron, terror, and sweat crinkled my nose.  I threw the deflated feather pillow I had been drooling on over my eyes in protest.

“Morning, Wendi.” came my grunted salutation.

May You Live In Interesting Times

Ten years ago today, I was freshly married, exhausted, still pulling bobby-pins out of my oh so short hair, and so seasick as to be bedridden, headed out on an Alaskan cruise.

Since then, life has taken me places I never thought I'd go; home ownership, job loss, finding a Winter Family, logging close to 2000 miles in hockey road trips, outpatient surgery, work injury, suing said employer (Twice! Once for unemployment, once for the injury. I won both cases.), discovering someone you once called your friend is a kiddie-diddler who paid for the pleasure, divorce, bankruptcy, short sale on the house, meeting Omaha's amazing characters and being able to count them among my friends, leasing and then buying my Mini Cooper Donovan, partnership in a family LLC, learning to be better friends than spouses with the ex, dating over 30, blogging, body pain, three dental crowns, giving depression what for, meeting Thunderhead, and finding a place that feels more like a commune than an apartment building.

No wonder the past couple years have been so low key. Seems like enough packed into a decade for a lifetime. And I'm at the gate, begging for more. As unsubstantiated Chinese curses go, living in interesting times feels like a favorite pair of jeans.

With a Little Help From Your Friends

It's May 25th; Memorial day, and my long weekend it just starting.  Well, starting in earnest you could say.  I handed off my albatross this morning.  At 8:00, I passed the on call phone to the next coworker in the rotation.  With that, my week of waiting for Godot is over.  Thankfully, this was my first quiet rotation, only having one true emergency come up that required intervention on my part. Past experiences though had me caught in the middle of a situation that I was powerless to either solve, or avoid being the middle man.  I often go into the Monday of taking over the responsibility of being Grand Central Station for 7 days with an overwhelming sense of dread, waiting for the other shoe to drop.   I don't sleep well, my temper gets shorter, and I end up carrying all that stress in unhealthy ways.  One of which is carrying it in my back and shoulders.  I had started to think it would be a good idea for me to take half-days at work on the Monday following.  This time, as luck would have it, the office is closed and I got my extra time to recover as a freebie.  I also had the opportunity to cross paths with an opportunity I think I would be crazy to turn down.