Visit to the Vampire

 On Growing Old…er …Or… 

A Visit to the Vampire

It happens every day. Every. Single. Day. One breath at a time, everyone…you included…. everyone grows older. One minute. One hour. One day at a time.

It’s just that some days you feel it more. At least I do. 

Basically, I don’t feel all that old. Certainly not the number of candles on my cake…which will boast one more come May.

No, I generally feel pretty good. Strong. Active. Enjoying these retirement years with Mike.

Generally. 

A week or so ago, I made an appointment with my doctor because of a rash. An irritation on my neck and arms. She sent me to a lab for an allergy test. She wanted them to draw blood to test for nuts, seafood, and trees.

It sounded a bit silly to me. Especially the tree part. I haven’t had seafood in a while and I eat nuts a lot, but I’ve always enjoyed them without incident. Still, as I had a few days before the lab tests, I decided to cut out nuts and seafood. I hadn’t consumed much seafood, anyway. 

Cutting out trees was a bit beyond my reach. It’s not like I climb trees anymore. There was a time, though. Many years ago. 

However, we do see a lot of pollen collecting on the cars when they’re parked outside so I wasn’t ruling out an allergy to trees. Yet.

Before my scheduled appointment at the Vampire’s office, I decided to cut out what I could to see if it helped. 

I generally eat unsalted nuts as a snack or I put a handful of them in my bowl of “loaded oatmeal” on Sunday mornings. I stopped both practices and didn’t really miss the nuts. I simply put more blueberries and chopped apple in my oatmeal. It was good. 

Yet, a few days before my appointment, another rash broke out on my arm at the inner side of my elbow. The crook of my arm. The same place it broke out before. 

I wracked my brain to think what I may have eaten. And I got the answer. Or answers.  I remembered making a quick PB& J sandwich while taking a break from my computer. Must be the nuts.

Wait, did I eat a half of a tuna salad sandwich for lunch yesterday?  And those trees are still out there!

I’m feeling like a wimp as I head out to the Vampire. The young man drawing the necessary vial of blood doesn’t look like a vampire. He looks like a kid. Seriously. He’s maybe the age of my oldest grandson. Maybe.

He is polite and careful. I don’t even feel the needle and I didn’t dare look to see if he hit the target. He quietly draws the blood and sends me on my way telling me I did great. I feel like a kid deserving a lollipop for not crying, but apparently, they don’t give out lollipops at the Vampire’s office. At least not to me.

I wait to hear from my doctor’s office. 

I wait and wait. And I wait some more.

I don’t have all the results yet. Until I get the numbers, I’m laying off the nuts and seafood. As for the trees? Well, we’ll wait and see. 

I think that I shall never see…A rash growing on a tree.

A tree that may in springtime wear, 

nuts and seashells in her hair.

Rashes appear on fools like me.

But as long as it’s not chocolate,

My heart springs free.

Okay…Yes, I’m tired…but you get the drift…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living Through a Drought

 Living Through a Drought

Our neck of the woods has been going through a drought. June first marks the first day of Florida’s rainy season, but of course, there is still no guarantee of rain. The little girl on the Morton’s salt is a reminder that “When It Rains, It Pours.” I hope she’s right. No big hurricane. Just the rain from one.

Not to sound like a poet or something but our daily lament around here has been, 

“The lake is down. Our grass is brown.”

Yep, we need rain. You may see some green in the photo, but what you see is usually underwater...And the dock is high and dry!

My writing went through a drought for a while, too. 

There was a season of life when I struggled to gather my thoughts or sustain my steam if I did have an idea. It was a rough time as a writer. That’s why I have a file full of writing I call “Fits and Starts.” 

It may be the ebb and flow of every writer’s life. I don’t know, but I’ve heard other authors speak of “slumps” or “dry spells” in their writing. It may be that way with all creatives. I know painters who search for that particular “light of inspiration” or people who throw pottery on a wheel and turn out something I like, but it doesn’t have “the feel” they were seeking.

The trick is to trudge onward. I did manage to keep my blog going during that time my writing seemed to suffer. I went through the motions of writing and had a couple of short stories published in anthologies and Chicken Soup for the Soul. 

Fortunately, now...after the drought in my writing world, I have a lot of “irons in the fire” so to speak. 

·   I have a book scheduled to be released in September by Mt. Zion Ridge Press. 

·   I have just completed a three-book series I hope to pitch to Love Inspired.

·   I have a new book I am crafting and another I am still researching. (The research on that one is particularly deep and important since it is my first real attempt at a full- length historical fiction manuscript.)

So, here’s the thing to we all need to keep in mind. Droughts don’t last forever. In the weather or in our personal endeavors. 

And now? As I type this, a light rain is coming across the lake. It’s a reminder: Droughts simply don’t last. Eventually the rain will come. And the words will pour out onto the paper.