Gena
I know how important a certain level of on-line privacy is to you, so my respect for you and for that is the reason I am keeping the details here scant. You and I both know what was done, and while I might not share those particulars publicly, I certainly believe they are worthy of a more detailed lauding. A life spent typing “thank you’s” can’t even capture the feeling. For taking so much time you didn’t really have while looking after something dear to our hearts, for going out of your way to help fix something I was struggling with…thank you just is not enough. But it will have to be for these pages. You have stood by me and valued me no matter what my personal beliefs are. You have listened to me grieve. Those alone leave me in your debt. This…yeah, I can’t really repay this any more than I can those other invaluables, but my dear friend, I will do everything I can to be there for you as you have been there for me. Much appreciation and love <3
A Couple General Thoughts
Y’all, things are just a heartbreaking mess all over the place right now. I can’t even begin to address adequately how horrifying I find war to be. Regardless of whatever stressors I have going on, I am at least typing this from a safe place- which is a luxury far too many people don’t have right now. I am grieved beyond the point of even knowing what to say that we as a species are continually engaging in such atrocities.
And I am personally maxed out on focusing on hard things. I owe a lengthy set of posts to Tony’s speech therapy programs and the fabulous Miss Jenny (his current speech therapist, pictures are taken and everything), but good golly I can’t spend too much time writing about anything more serious right now. I am going to briefly touch on something important after this note, but…if I flat out don’t take a break writing for the next month, I’m probably just going to focus on putting together a few posts with more insight I think might be helpful to family and loved ones as regards to how I do my make up and why. And then, probably come the first weeks of April, I’m going to be headed in to some speech updates.
That being said, I am reading escapist stuff right now that makes me happy. But it might not align with the values and views of some of my loved ones reading this blog. Which leaves me in a delicate place for making recommendations, and I’m still trying to navigate this space where I know some of us don’t agree about what is morally acceptable in writing while showing respect for a variety of positions. At some point, it’s always possible my recommendations might not satisfy everybody’s personal preferences, but as always, you are free to ignore any recommendation I make that you feel doesn’t work for you personally.
Some Reading & Viewing To Consider
I really don’t want to get bogged down on this, but I feel it’s important to remind everyone to pay close attention to their skin. I had something cut out today and on it’s way to being tested, and if it ends up being something less than desirable, what will make all of the difference is that I was paying attention to my skin and it only showed up 6 days ago. I am putting up some links for websites with brief overviews on what to look for as you check your own skin down below this paragraph, the pictures I am showing here are from what was removed on my back. I recommend checking your skin often, taking pictures when changes are noticed, with a ruler. After only a few days on this one, texture (started out smooth, went scaly by day 5), color, pigmentation, size (7mm as of last night) were changing on mine rapidly. If you see those types of things, of course it could always just be something strange looking but benign. However, it’s better to be safe than sorry, and you should head yourself in to have someone look at it.
Web MD Skin Cancer Explanations
Melanoma Warning Signs from the Skin Cancer Foundation
American Cancer Society Skin Cancer Image Gallery
A Few of my Favorite ASMR Videos
There was a study done recently that indicated that people who experience and benefit from ASMR are suffering from anxiety or are neurotic. I really think people with chronic high stress also should have been included in this. Let’s be real, you don’t tell someone with a stalker that their feelings of tension and fear are unwarranted, but it’s going to do the same damage to their nervous system. So, for those of us who benefit from ASMR when life gets ugly, these are a few of my favorite videos (although I am giving just the name of the creators, I did pick specific videos I loved for each link):
And, One Quick Escapist Recommendation For Loved Ones Needing That
Beauty and the Werewolf, by Mercedes Lackey
This particular book will meet the content standards of my most conservative loved ones, but not every book in this series will. This book, like the others in the series, is a creative mash up of multiple fairy tales. I did find that I could figure out who the main bad guy was pretty early on, but that’s often a problem I have when reading. I felt like this was a creative and imaginative spin on the fairy tales involved, and I found it to be a quick but satisfying escapist read.
