Fair
Thus far, Labor Day weekend has been pretty dull. I went to the State Fair, and I hung around the house, simultaneously rewatching Arrested Development and avoiding important household projects. Which, I think, is exactly how I spent last Labor Day weekend. I've had an unfortunate pattern of dull Labor Day weekends. Everyone's off doing stuff, while I sit around, making that "dee-buh-dee-buh-dee" noise with your lips and forefinger.
Experiencing the State Fair with Mom and Dad was slightly different this year, what with Dad only having half a pancreas and all. He's finally worked out a balance between changing his eating habits, not getting overtired, and taking insulin at the right times. About a week ago, his blood sugar was spiking and dropping all over the place. The numbers were rather scary. Most of the fair food was ignored, and he stuck to non-alcoholic beer and hamburgers, because he could precisely monitor his consumption with those simple foods.
Oh, and he has skin cancer now. Not melanoma, it's one of the lesser varieties that are just bothersome. A consequence of doing decades of outside work without sunscreen or hats. I remember him blowing off sunscreen a lot when we were kids. There was only one, rather obscure brand he would use (I never understood his objection to more common brands, too girly or something), and I don't think it's been on the market in years. Now, of course, he's wearing whatever brand is available. He's had chunks taken off of his face and his ears. So he had a bandage on one ear, and greasy stuff on older incisions all over his face.
From all the surgery and dietary changes, both Dad and my Mom have lost weight. Not a bad thing, obviously, but to my eyes it makes them both look older, more worn out. Couple the weight loss with bits of my Dad's face getting removed, and it's hard not to think of him as falling apart.
But really, they're both doing everything they should. Dad's not fighting the doctors. He's not cheating on his diet, not even complaining about it, which stuns me. He wasn't getting crabby with Mom, and Mom has laid off the extraneous nagging. He's avoiding stress and slowing down. If anyone's not doing the right things, it's me. I kept losing them in the crowd because I was walking too fast, and looking wistfully at all the fried food I was supportively avoiding. I'm worried, but I think Dad will do okay.
Auditions for the performance class at the BNW were last Wednesday. How do I keep missing this stuff? How much of it is laziness, ambiguous feelings, or subconscious self-sabotage? I've been unusually bummed about this all weekend.
Odds are good I'll celebrate Labor Day with labor. I'll probably do some touch up painting. Chances are my POS DSL won't be up, so I won't have the Internet distracting me.
Experiencing the State Fair with Mom and Dad was slightly different this year, what with Dad only having half a pancreas and all. He's finally worked out a balance between changing his eating habits, not getting overtired, and taking insulin at the right times. About a week ago, his blood sugar was spiking and dropping all over the place. The numbers were rather scary. Most of the fair food was ignored, and he stuck to non-alcoholic beer and hamburgers, because he could precisely monitor his consumption with those simple foods.
Oh, and he has skin cancer now. Not melanoma, it's one of the lesser varieties that are just bothersome. A consequence of doing decades of outside work without sunscreen or hats. I remember him blowing off sunscreen a lot when we were kids. There was only one, rather obscure brand he would use (I never understood his objection to more common brands, too girly or something), and I don't think it's been on the market in years. Now, of course, he's wearing whatever brand is available. He's had chunks taken off of his face and his ears. So he had a bandage on one ear, and greasy stuff on older incisions all over his face.
From all the surgery and dietary changes, both Dad and my Mom have lost weight. Not a bad thing, obviously, but to my eyes it makes them both look older, more worn out. Couple the weight loss with bits of my Dad's face getting removed, and it's hard not to think of him as falling apart.
But really, they're both doing everything they should. Dad's not fighting the doctors. He's not cheating on his diet, not even complaining about it, which stuns me. He wasn't getting crabby with Mom, and Mom has laid off the extraneous nagging. He's avoiding stress and slowing down. If anyone's not doing the right things, it's me. I kept losing them in the crowd because I was walking too fast, and looking wistfully at all the fried food I was supportively avoiding. I'm worried, but I think Dad will do okay.
Auditions for the performance class at the BNW were last Wednesday. How do I keep missing this stuff? How much of it is laziness, ambiguous feelings, or subconscious self-sabotage? I've been unusually bummed about this all weekend.
Odds are good I'll celebrate Labor Day with labor. I'll probably do some touch up painting. Chances are my POS DSL won't be up, so I won't have the Internet distracting me.