Blossoming

Splatters of hot grease on my twenty year old face added to my discomfort of working as a cook at Perkins restaurant in my small college town.  It was an odd job for someone who vehemently dislikes cooking but it was my summer job after my junior year ended and I found myself broke.  College loans weren't paying for summer survival so I was lucky to have a job and be able to pay my rent and eat in 1976. A small town presented the opportunity to walk to and from work so it wasn't so bad, especially since two of my dearest friends were waitresses at the same popular townie hangout.  Flipping pancakes, tossing fries in the basket, patting salisbury steak patties were skills I never wanted to perfect and having to work my (then skinny) butt off in the stifling hot kitchen only made me study harder in my English classes.  Like a sultry cloud, the memory of that summer hovers in my old brain. One particular facet of that summer still brings me joy that verges on laugh out loud and then instantly, softly weeping.

And it's a small thing, a breezy little glimpse of recollection.  We three often had the three to eleven shift at Perkins which means we missed out on the best part of the summer days because we had to sling hash.  So, we started taking a beach towel and bathing suit to work with us during that muggy Pennsylvania summer. At shift end, we swiftly jammed our time cards into that worn punch clock machine, grabbed our duffle bags and gleefully raced each other to the dock behind the post office.  It wasn't long before we realized we didn't need our suits for those midnight plunges.  Jumping off of that old dock naked into the cool river water on those humid summer nights devilishly delighted us!  We were blooming into ourselves, cherishing our love and friendships.

Those were the days, my friend.  

It's excruciatingly difficult for me to bring up most of those old memories.....  I am not restored back to my pre-2017 self yet.  Probably never.  

But I am still trying to find joy in the small, minute minutes of now.

Today, after I disinfected our home and completed my chores while Eli took Jolynn to her Treatment Center appointment, I walked around our pretty yard with a pair of scissors.  I clipped a few Daffodils to put in the upstairs bedroom where I sleep.  Jolynn can't be around fresh flowers until Day Plus 100.  Today is Day Plus 24.  Her nurse gave her IV fluids this morning and prescribed a new anti nausea pill, Compazine.  The hope is that this medication will help her want to digest more food and fluids so she can start to gain (not lose) weight.  On all other fronts, she is doing remarkably well.  Exhaustion abruptly takes over but she is resting regularly and thoroughly enjoying the visits from her children and grandchildren in person and on the screen.

Meanwhile, my dear friends and family encourage me to take care of myself.  That's why I took the scissors into our yard this morning.

It's the simple things in life, 
     right Kath?



                                           (I attach links for songs if you'd care to click, or not, up to you)

                                                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3KEhWTnWvE