My new mornings and days.....
I'm not complaining,
just adapting. It is sort of like you would decide on a new exercise
routine or new job. Adjustments have to made and old habits
discharged.
Habits are not a bad
thing, though they get a bad reputation. Habits can have two
functions depending on the type of person you are. My professor and
mentor used to say there are two types of people: watch dogs and bird
dogs. Watch dogs bark at everything new and retreat to their dog
houses to hide if the new thing gets too close or they attack and try
to kill it. Bird dogs are always out hunting for new things. You may
send them out to retrieve a bird but there is no guarantee they will
return with your bird or even with a bird. They just delight in
bringing something new home to examine and use. Unfortunately for
society, there are a thousand watch dogs to every bird dog. The
actions of both dogs are based on habit it is just how they interpret
and use the habit that differs. The Watch Dog uses the habit, its
house, to hide from anything new. The Bird Dog uses the habit, its
owner and retrieving pattern to seek out new things to learn. It
works the same way with magic. At first every little thing must be
coordinated and learned painstakingly and then it becomes rote and
done instantly.
That was something I
learned this morning to my amazement. All night I have derided the
cats for tracking litter into the bed. When I got up this morning, I
had the stuff attached to my leg and it was almost impossible to
remove. The situation has been getting worse all weekend until this
morning I thought I was in the kitty pan. In the bathroom with strong
glasses on, now that I no longer have 20/20 vision due to the
diabetes, I saw the pieces were strangely uniform in size and shape
and prone to static electricity. This is why I couldn't get them off
my leg. Now this was strange because litter is neither. I was ready
to kill a cat when I discovered a few minutes later my favorite
pillow, the little heart one that is the perfect size to prop my leg
up at night, was bleeding microbeads due to several cat holes.
This presents a new
problem as there is no way I can see to thread a needle. Then I
remembered seeing a sewing kit on my nightstand when I cleaned up
with what I thought were prethreaded needles. Thank you what ever
hotel (It has an H on it so I am thinking Hilton) that put these in
the rooms and Neutrogena for making them. (I don't make it a habit of
staying at expensive hotels as I can't afford to travel any more, but
back when I was working in psychiatry, I had to travel and take
classes to keep my licenses up to date.) These prethreaded needles
should be available in the craft store. It came with basic colors of
thread, about two feet and lovely sharp needles. I set about darning
the pillow which had a total of 4 holes in it.
It has been at least
fifteen years since I hand darned anything. The first knot was
awkward and the first stitches. Then I fell into a familiar, rote
pattern. The little pillow was darned in no time without me even
thinking about what I was doing. It must be the thousandth thing I
have darned in my life and now it is as easy a breathing again, even
with a decade break from darning.
Hence my new life
will be a little hard to learn but eventually it will be a pattern, a
jumping off point for the rest of my day. I awake and instead of
grabbing the cup of Joe, I have to grab the test kit and test myself.
Then I weigh myself and then I inject the insulin and take the pill.
Then and only then can I have my infusion of coffee, now with a
powdered whitener instead of the sugar laden organic milk. My PA
suggests in case of a hypoglycemic attack to drink 8 ounces of milk
because the sugar hits instantly and protein will carry you and
maintain the sugar level for a couple of hours. All these years, I
thought orange juice was the way to go but it just provides the sugar
high and then you drop like a rock. I am learning.
I guess even an old
Bird Dog can learn new tricks. Actually I think I am a cat because
ordered to retrieve, I am more likely to give you the finger and go
do what I want to......well, not any more....
No comments:
Post a Comment