Apparently this new herbal tea’s effects are cumulative - I’ve been drinking it for about a week now & last night, my sleep score was back up to 84 (“Good”). I concur, pretty much a solid “B” - although I think last night was also aided by the fact that I did not have to set an alarm this morning, that always helps take the pressure off.
Yesterday morning with rain threatening, I went into town to check out a new yoga studio: a restorative class taught by a friend’s cousin. It was a very nice place, freshly refurbished near the busy hive of the Oak Lawn neighborhood. I went by the foo-foo prepared food market Eatzi’s to pick up a few tidbits afterwards - Got a couple of their premade meals which I hope my mom will LIKE and actually, you know, EAT! and not let rot in her refrigerator. I have pretty much given up taking over much food for her unless I’m actually placing it in front of her at mealtime - she has let so much go to waste, preferring to snack on cheese and crackers for evening “meal”. At least she gets a hot meal at lunchtime which Sonia picks up from the main building.
My mom and I both call ourselves “only children” - we were raised as such even though she had a half-brother and I had my half-sister whom I barely had a chance to know. Both of us were very close to some of our cousins: in my mom‘s case that would be Cousin Betty, who is five years younger than her. Mom and I are the outliers, being Catholic since most of the rest of the family has a strong fundamentalist Christian background. Anyway, it was a family scandal when Cousin Betty divorced her first husband in the 70’s for infidelity. They had two sons: Donny died at a young age due to complications from his drug addiction, Charley (a few years younger than me) became estranged from his mother in the messy aftermath of his divorce (another family scandal!) & moved away to Oklahoma.
I came across a Facebook post the other day - Charley has also died of some form of cancer. I broke the news to my mom but she has not even tried to call her cousin - they are also estranged since Cousin Betty remarried late in life. Her niece - my cousin Susanna - blogged about it. She tells the story so much better than I could:
https://whatiactuallymeanttosay.blogspot.com/2014/09/a-fairy-tale-60-years-in-making.html
Cousin Betty called me last night; I am ashamed that I had not called her myself. How do you even speak of such tragic losses? Charley was a Marine (served during first Gulf War) and will be buried in our DFW National Cemetery, where my dad is interred. Hopefully I can get my mom to attend.
I love herbal teas. I have tried some for sleep - Chamomile, SleepyTime, and Soothing Caramel Bedtime but not consistently and don't know if they work.
ReplyDeleteI love cheese and crackers and probably would do that too if I ate alone. I doubt I would fix meals just for me.
I also think of myself as an only child as I was raised that way. My half-brother is 15 years younger than me and not at all interested in me. I was close to my first cousin who committed suicide.
I loved Betty's story. I'm sure my family was disappointed in my divorce but he threw me out when he decided to pursue a gay woman and I am grateful for that. He wanted to be free to pursue all of the women he thought he was God's gift to and he learned otherwise. A few months later he tried to get me back, telling me that he had always intended to come back to me when he had this out of his system. That no one could cook like me and I made a house a home. By then HE was out of MY system. I didn't feel like "drinking the Coolaid".
I'm sorry to hear about Betty and her loss and your mom and yours as well. I hope your mom will go.
I need to do more yoga. For sure.