Good Monday morning! Today's blog post is a mish-mash of weekend revelations and one very surreal moment. Actually, five surreal moments. Five moments in my life that will make your Monday morning suddenly look a lot better.
First, The Revelation. Some of you know that I have some pretty bad back pain. After ten years of doctors, MRI's, x-rays, injections, physical therapy, massage, medication, acupuncture, and chiropractors, I finally got the diagnosis that it is osteoarthritis that results in severe sciatica. So fun. Especially when you consider that I was 38 when I first experienced it, and I'm 49 now. Too young for that nonsense, for sure. But life being life, you're given a few serious curve balls throughout the duration, and what are you going to do about it? Deal with it. And manage it as best you can. It's highly ironic that I live with this chronic pain and inflammation, given that I am such a hardcore vegan lifestyle enthusiast. I've been vegan for almost 15 years and it's solved every other physical issue I ever had, so I dont' know why this won't go away, but I'm just grateful it isn't something worse. Now, to the revelation.
This weekend I read several articles and watched a video or two about the properties of the AMAZING TURMERIC. This is that brilliant yellow powder spice you might sometimes use in curry. It's an ancient spice that's been long-revered in India for its delicious taste and HEALING PROPERTIES. First? It's an amazing anti-inflammatory. 2nd, it prevents Alzheimer's disease! Third, Turmeric is a great Omega 3 booster. It also fights cancer. And more! All in all, it is a super-spice, a medicine in itself, and much much better than taking the medications prescribed to me for pain. I have started taking four supplement pills a day of Turmeric and I feel great. So much better than a year ago, it's amazing. I cook a lot with it too, and let me tell you the smells of turmeric and cinnamon, fresh ginger and garam masala are almost as medicinal. This really is a revelation for all us westerners who aren't familiar with this ancient spice. Our doctors would much rather prescribe you a chemical drug that reaps outrageous profits for pharmaceutical companies than direct you towards something natural. And those chemicals are not good for us. The news that there are natural, life-giving, healing alternatives in the organic produce aisle...is a miracle. We're always looking for those magic pills that will make us well, help us lose weight, etc, but instead of a pill, the magic comes in the shape of a golden powder, or perhaps in the shape of an almond (another super food), or a blueberry (another), or a tiny chia seed. As I learn more about natural wellness I get more excited. Optimum health is right there, right next to us, waiting to be discovered. This fills me with glee.
Now, about those five surreal moments that are going to make your morning seem a lot brighter, if only by comparison. It was still dark. It was only about 5am. I get up early, people, I'm middle aged, it's what we do. And by "get up" I mean mean make coffee and get back in bed. This morning I hadn't even made the coffee yet. It was pitch dark, and very hot in my basement room so I opened the window a crack and lay back down. Our cat Chakra (the teenager named him) jumped in through the window and down onto my bed. He always does this, and he's very playful so when he started attacking my feet I thought nothing of it. But then...he started jumping around on the bed like he was after something. My mind immediately went to SPIDER. AYEEE! I thought in a shock of panic that he might have a spider on the bed and was playing with it on me, and I shot out of that bed so fast it would have hilarious if anyone had seen it. I stumbled across the room, turned on on the light...and it was worse than I could have imagined - there was a live mouse on my bed.
The poor thing was injured and scuttled around on the covers - that had just been on my body - and then Chakra (ill-named, this is very un-zen behavior) grabbed it up in his mouth and jumped on the floor where he dropped it, and the poor thing ran/wobbled behind the desk. AHHHH! I immediately turned into one of those cartoon women who dance on a chair, screaming and holding up her skirts. This is very unlike me. I love mice! I yelled for my husband, without shame. And, like a knight in shining armor Greg appeared at the top of the stairs in his rumpled pajamas and carefully ushered the poor little mouse into a wastebasket, and then he took it outside and let it go. Chakra meanwhile expected us to be damned grateful for his gift, and sat proprietorially on my bed, licking his whiskers.
When I think of relaxed I had been only five minutes earlier, and then how nice I thought it when the cat landed on my bed and started playing.....ugh. I still get a frisson of horror. Doesn't your Monday morning look better now?
This post is getting long, so here is why I don't like Halloween: it's ugly. Fall is a beautiful time, a relief from the scorching days of August, and filled with the delicious promise of chilly mornings, sweaters, fires, baked goods, and the holidays ahead. It's a time I like to savor completely, and every year it's RUINED by Halloween. Hideous, un-cozy, garish items pop up all over the stores, and then all over the neighborhood! I don't want to see purple hags and dead people, giant spiders and hands coming out of the ground!!!!! I want to see pumpkin pies and banana bread, white twinkle lights and crackling fire places. Pine trees and red flannel. Halloween sucks all the life out of the season and replaces it with ghoulish death. It's not fun, it's not cute, it ruins all the cozy, and it promotes obesity. So there. Frumpy old lady rant complete.
Anyhoo, happy happy week to all of you! Enjoy fall to the fullest, it's glorious! xoxoxo DR
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