Sleep, Spring, and Super Bugs

After two days of fighting a respiratory bug that seemed invincible, I lie in bed tonight with Tiger on the pillow beside me, the rain pelting the new leaves on trees outside my window. My hope is that rain washes all the pollen away and I can open my windows again.

April, considered to be the beautiful month spring really begins, is usually a tough month for most of us who have allergies. Instead of digging in the dirt, planting flowers, and enjoying the vibrant color of the forests, the dogwood, and oodles of other trees I can't name, I watch from inside - inside my car and inside my house.

To fight the symptoms of allergy turned ugly, I take over the counter antihistimine which gives me a strange "I don't care about anything but sleep" feeling. I realized today, in that state between total sleep and aware-of-someone- in-the-room, I could hear that a tornado was about to hit my house and I'd just pull the covers over my head and ignore it. I hate being drugged. I don't like feeling I'm not in control of myself.

DRUGS AND CREATIVITY
All those writers who drink and use drugs because they think it makes them more creative, well, I could not be one of them. I don't refuse pain pills when I hurt, but I'd rather deal with it than be unstable or unsure of myself. Guess I could never be a junkie.

I had to cancel my class tonight. I am sorry that three students did not get the message and showed up anyway. I missed seeing them and hearing what they had writen this week.

I can't keep my eyes open another minute. Sleep is healing, they say, so I expect to be well tomorrow.

Bringing up Grandchildren

In our country today, it seems more and more children and grandchildren are moving in with parents and grandparents. Sometimes for financial reasons and sometimes because of broken homes where no parent is available to care for the child.

Recently a 74 year old and his wife talked with me about the child they had taken into their home. She is 15 and she withdraws into her room and talks on her cellphone constantly. He worries that there is little interaction between them, but his wife says she tries to stay close to her grandchild and even goes into the girl's room when she doesn't feel welcome.



The teenager is on a precipice and could fall either way in her life. Both parents have made huge mistakes and cannot care for this child at this time. But these elderly grandparents should be free to enjoy the last years of their lives. They worked hard to provide for their children and are not physically able to handle a rebellious, angry teen. This teen says that her grandparents are the only stable thing in her life. How could they not take care of her? Sacrifices continue to be made by the elderly while so many younger parents take them for granted.



However, if we can save one child from turning to drugs or alcohol and help her/him develop into the person we see he can be, we persevere and make the sacrifices. Our generation was brought up that way.