Sunday, May 15, 2011

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Hibernation, Blessings and Motherhood


I feel like I have been hibernating for the past few months. Feeling sick all the time and not being allowed to drive can kick a once very independent, didn't have to rely on anyone kind of girl right in the pants!  


Although I knew I hadn't been feeling well enough to write a post on my blog, but didn't realize it had been this long! That bear says it all! I have gotten kind of chubby like him too!!


I was finally diagnosed a few months ago with Hyperadrenergic POTS, (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)  I have been dealing with the symptoms for over two years and it is the reason I haven't been able to work.  I have a great doctor at the University of Washington Medical Center Neurology Clinic who knows about this condition and what to do to help manage the symptoms. Most doctors sadly do not know what it is or how to treat the condition. So I feel truly blessed to have been able to find him and that despite his busy schedule and patient load, he was still able to see me. 


During this time I have reflected on the important things in my life and those are my family and dear friends. Thankfully I have been blessed with both! 


I had a great Mother's Day, spent it with two of my sons, my hubby, daughter-in-law, grand-babies and extended family.  Once your kids grow up you start going to their houses and man is that relaxing!! No cooking or cleanup, can you say perfection?!! So empty nesting isn't all that bad!!!


Among some of my great gifts is a beautiful album my daughter-in-law made for me from Grace and Adia, my grand-daughters.  Grace is three and a half and Adia is almost one and a half. Here are some of the pages from the album:
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Album Cover
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Grace, Adia, Pancho and I
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Adia and I
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Grace and Andrew having some fun!
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Grace and Adia after their bath~
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Grace putting on my makeup!!
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Randy, Alyx, Grace and Adia
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Grace having some fun in the park!

Easter Time!

I have second guessed my decisions in life, have felt twangs of guilt while raising my boys as a working and single mom, and despite all of my mistakes I have been blessed again with great sons. They all have become great men and I am so proud of them all.  My son gave me a gigantic card with a gift card, but what he wrote inside made me tear up. He thanked me for helping him become the independent person he is today, that I am a great Mom, role model and the best Mom ever!


Why can we be so hard on ourselves? We do the best we can with the situations that are given to us and usually our kids still think we are the best!


When God Created Mothers

by Erma Bombeck

Mother’s Day column for May 12, 1974

When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into his sixth day of “overtime” when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”
And the Lord said, “Have you read the specs on this order?
  • She has to be completely washable, but not plastic;
  • Have 180 movable parts... all replaceable;
  • Run on black coffee and leftovers;
  • Have a lap that disappears when she stands up;
  • A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair;
  • And six pairs of hands.”
The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands... no way.”
“It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord. “It’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have.”
“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel.
The Lord nodded. “One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, ’What are you kids doing in there?’ when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn’t but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say, ’I understand and I love you’ without so much as uttering a word.”
“Lord,” said the angel, touching His sleeve gently, “Go to bed. Tomorrow...”
“I can’t,” said the Lord, “I’m so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick... can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger... and can get a nine-year-old to stand under a shower.”
The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. “It’s too soft,” she sighed.
“But she’s tough!” said the Lord excitedly. “You cannot imagine what this mother can do or endure.”
“Can it think?”
“Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise,” said the Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told You You were trying to push too much into this model.”
“It’s not a leak,” said the Lord. “It’s a tear.”
“What’s it for?”
“It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride.”
“You are a genius,” said the angel.
The Lord looked somber. “I didn't put it there,” He said. 
  

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Love, Joy and Tragedy : Séraphine Louis de Senlis

The story is about Séraphine Louis, a housekeeper working in Senlis, France in the early 1900's.  Her days were consumed by hard and tedious work as a housekeeper and at night she would paint by candlelight, which was her love and passion.  She spent every free moment doing what she truly loved.  She was self-taught and created her own paints with secret ingredients, which to this day have maintained their original brilliance, as seen in her paintings.  

While staying at one of the homes she worked at, Séraphine's paintings were discovered  by Wilhem Unde, a German art collector.  Their collaboration was short lived due to the war between France and Germany in 1914, when Wilhem had to leave France.  

In the late 1920's, although Wilhem thought that Séraphine had died during the war, he decided to go back to Senlis and did indeed find her again.  During his absence she continued to paint and her newest work was being displayed in a town exhibit for local artists. 

The story continues on through her death.  Her life was full of love, joy and tragedy.  Love and joy when she was painting, as she would also sing joyous hymns while she created her art.  While I was was watching, I felt that she was in the presence of God and the angels themselves, truly Divine.   Tragedy, yes sadly in life there is tragedy.  In the end her tragedy was created because she couldn't paint any longer, whether imposed by others or Séraphine herself.     

Seraphine
Her paintings can now be found in museums in Paris, Nice, Senlis and Villeneuve d'Ascq.  The movie Séraphine was directed by Martin Provost in 2008.  I really enjoyed the movie, it is in French with subtitles.  If you don't mind that, you will love it too!



Despite work and other daily obligations how many minutes in a day do we actually use to do what we love?  What is our excuse?

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