I can't save the world. I can only do so much.

Sisters, June in front, Gay on the right and me, Glenda in red

This past weekend, I finished watching the 2000 TV series Parenthood. Although I watched this show when it was first on television, I watched it with new eyes. Was it being older that made me see this story of a family in a fresh view? Is it because I have lost so many of my family, that I understood the members of the Braverman family so much better now?

The characters make the story for me. I fall in love with them and embrace their flaws as well as celebrate the good in them. This show is filled with interesting characters, as are most families.

One Reviewer said: As a 50 something with grown children this show is so right on. The episode when they found out Max had a real problem was exactly how it went for my wife and I when we got similar news, and the reaction of the grandfather was also spot on. This show is happy, sad, and everything in-between, just like real life.

No one is perfect on this earth, and no one is perfect in the Braverman family. Sometimes conflict comes when one wants to help a brother or sister or spouse. Sometimes the conflict is brought on by an accident or illness. 

For me, this series which ran 8 seasons, was the perfect escape from all the bad news, the horrible sights of suffering and death we see every day if we turn on the television or social media and I was not created to handle all of the world's problems. I can't help the suffering people all over the world and in our own country. With my aging issues, health problems, and financial woes, I can only deal with what is near me, in my community, or in my own family. 

One of the major causes of depression and other mental health diagnoses is feeling responsible or worrying about things that we have no control over. I can do nothing about what is happening in Afghanistan. I am just so happy that someone is strong enough to bring this twenty-year-old war to an end. War is always Hell. This one has gone on much too long and is ending with bloodshed and sorrow for many people. But we will be better for giving that country back to the people who live there. It is not possible to change the culture of a country, thousands of years old, but that seems to be what we were trying to do there.

For my own health, I need to concentrate on good and positive thoughts and put into play what will best get me through this COVID crisis so I can live a productive life. News junkies sometimes thrive on what they see and hear each day, the same stories over and over with the hateful media reporters stirring up the ire of all in their listening audience. 

Maybe it is because I have such empathy for others the horror on the screens is just more than I can take in every day. Maybe that is why a TV series like Parenthood helps keep me sane. It is real. Real people have problems like I have dealt with all my life. I relate and I hurt when they hurt, I celebrate when they are happy. I am fortunate to hear from my writer friends when they are published and I can do something. I can post their success. I can cheer them on and praise them. I can invite them to be guests for our Zoom meetings and invite them to take writing classes.

The daily news depresses me and makes me feel guilty. I feel guilty because I can't make it better. I can't stop the fires in the west. I can't bring back the homes destroyed. I can't stop Hurricane Ida from flooding homes and destroying lives in Louisiana tonight. Even if I had millions of dollars I could not fix all the problems that slam us every single day. 

So I will donate to local charities. I will try to help my church help others. I will lift up my students and encourage them to not be afraid to tell their truth, to leave their legacy for future generations so their grandchildren will know the sacrifices made to keep this country moving in the right direction. We can tell the truth of what happened because we were there and if the history books in the public schools do not tell the whole truth, we can tell it in our stories and in our books. 

Well, I have gone on and on tonight, but Gay is visiting me and we have had two wonderful days together. We did not turn on the television or watch any news channels. All we have wanted to know is how much rain and bad weather we will get from this huge hurricane hitting the gulf coast. Although we are in the NC mountains, we will be affected by this storm. These are my thoughts as we begin another week. 

I hope you all are safe from the flooding, the fires, the devastation of this virus, and that your families are as well. Be safe this week and let me hear from you.

 

My Labor Day weekend - fun and exhausting at the same time

I hope my faithful readers had a terrific Labor Day weekend. I did. We celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday with friends. I love it when we get together. We have been enjoying each other's company for 37 years. We have some wonderful and some sad memories. But when we get together we laugh like crazy and have such fun. 

Do you have friends or family that you have fun with like that? We try to have our gatherings each time one of us has a birthday. That insures we don't let other things get in the way of seeing each other since we all live in different places. 

On Friday of last week, I became foster mom for a couple of small squirrels whose nest had been blown down on my deck. Their eyes were not open and they were squirming around cold and wet. So I brought them inside not knowing one thing about caring for the little creatures.

My first instinct was to get them dry and warm. I put them in a shoebox with shredded paper from my shredder. Then I found a cotton glove and filled it with dried beans. Tied it off and heated it in the microwave for minute. I made sure it was not too hot before I placed in in the box with the babies. They loved it! 

See this picture shows how they loved it. 

See them cling to the warm "bean bag" I made for them.

I felt they needed nourishment so I went online and googled how to care for baby squirrels. I found all I needed to know. I put a tsp. of salt and three tablespoons of sugar into a quart of warm water. I found a 2 cc syringe in the house and began to give them a little bit of the water from the syringe. They loved it. I could tell they were dehydrated because I pinched a little of the skin on their backs and, like with humans, the skin did not quickly fall back and flat. According to the directions online, the most important thing to do at this time was keep them warm and give them the water about every 2 hours. 

I did a good job with them until I went to sleep around midnight. I set my clock to wake me up every two hours, but I woke up before the clock alarmed. All night long I fed the little sweethearts even though they did not appreciate my waking them. I wiped them down with a warm cloth each time. That was to wake them up as their mother would do, and to stimulate them to urinate and defecate. It worked! I reheated the bean bag glove each time as well. 

The warm wet cloth was similar to the mother squirrel's licking them, it said in my directions. By morning I was exhausted. I can't function without sleep. 

Gratefully, I handed them over to a writing student of mine, Kathy Knapp, who has raised a wild squirrel and loves animals. Before the day was done, Kathy and her husband found a man who would rehab them and one day let them go to the wild. My friend, Sarah, wanted to keep them and raise them, but her husband nixed that idea. She even went out and bought formula and a tiny feeding bottle. I didn't know there was formula available for baby squirrels, but it seems the same formula given to tiny kittens can be used for the squirrels.

Needless to say, I was still tired when my house guests arrived on Sunday afternoon, but rallied quickly and we had a grand old time on Monday. 

I hope no more squirrels build nests in trees over my house. I saw a new bird nest today in a rhododendron bush and I told my sister, I will not look at that nest or the area under and around it because I don't want to see any little birds on the ground or needing help. 

This week I hold my last writing class for the summer here in my studio. On Saturday we host the last guest instructor for this year. My work then will center on the tribute NCWN and NCWN West will hold in honor of Kathryn Stripling Byer on October 1. I hope everyone will come to the Jackson County Library in Sylva, NC for that event. She deserves all of the praise and attributes for her outstanding life of writing and working with writers. 

Have a good week and I'll see you next time.