Today was interesting. I had a concentration of invites for this particular night, and chose the one most important to me. Then I got sick, so I texted my friend, and... it turns out he was also not feeling great, so we had to postpone. Sigh... oh well. It will happen. It will. I pinky swear!
I went through most of the day using my neti pot, munching whole cloves of garlic raw, taking grapefruit seed extract, vitamin D, adrenal cortex, fish oil, lots of citrus fruit, about a gallon and a half of water, topped with a huge pot of tea. By evening, I was feeling quite a bit better. I'm a Neti-Yeti... or... Neti Hero, according to auto-correct. Whichever, I've got stars in my eyes tonight. Hopefully I am getting rid of this nasty bug that plagued both of my daughters for more than a week, and it doesn't turn into a chest cold, which was the main drag for both of them.
Did I mention I'm kind of a nerd? But... hey. When I mean business, I mean business! And also? I apparently know my Foreigner songs. Not something I'm all that proud of, but when you had no choice as a kid but listen to them in your dad's car until you had saved up enough allowance to buy a walkman cassette player, this is the card you had to play. And we lived in LA. Nothing was ever close or easy to get to in a reasonable amount of time. NOTHING!
So, I heard a lot of Foreigner. Yes. Yes, I did.
It was pretty good motivation though I still damn my ability to memorize songs, and if "LuAnne" still isn't burned into my memory... oh lord. Help me.
Anyway, tonight, I decided to go grocery shopping after Mr. Hed got home from work, since my plans had been canceled and I was basically just sort of teetering on the wall separating well, and unwell. And... we were out of most things in the way of... food. I also didn't have the energy today to deal with both children in the grocery store. (Which was my original plan. I like to get there when the store opens for minimal drama, but that just wasn't happenin' earlier.)
They love to dance, twirl, walk backward, and make my head spin. I am lucky when I leave with every item I wrote down before the trip when I have to take both of them. I have to be very alert to keep the kids, the people around us, and breakable merchandise safe. This usually results in sensory overload for mama, and I have to hide in the closet curled up in the fetal position for about 15 minutes before I can even unload the bags. (OK, I added that last part for dramatic effect. Please. Nobody commit me.)
So when I get a chance to go without them, I take it.
For some reason this evening... I'm not sure if it was because I looked like a good listener or what, everyone wanted to talk to me. It was actually pretty nice, since I hadn't had much adult interaction for the past couple days. But really. Everywhere, someone had a story for me.
I was wearing a pair of earrings that I purchased last year at Nomad Body Piercing. They are easily my favourite pair; made of plain burl wood, and carved in a very unique design looping around the lobe, at a zero gauge. Blake, the owner of the shop, only made 10 pairs... in various sizes. I was lucky enough to find a pair in my size, and snag them for my very own. They are pretty special, and I wear them often.
Everywhere I went tonight, people had something to say about them. One guy I talked to actually knew Blake, and told me stories about his shop when it was still in San Francisco! (I had actually commented on his plugs to start off with.) They were probably about a 1/2 inch in diameter, and rose quartz. They were gorgeous. He told me all about how he made body jewelry for a while, and how he had been stretching since about 1992. He mentioned how the stone plugs were a little too burdensome to wear all the time, and he was starting to seek out lighter weight materials. I couldn't believe he had never tried buffalo horn before! I think that's my favourite material, personally. It is very lightweight, and usually found in ornately carved styles.
It is interesting how something as simple as a piece of jewelry can spark a conversation that goes on and on next to the butter in the store down the street with a complete stranger. It's cool though. Tonight, I welcomed it. I was just happy to be out of the house for a while, and perfectly happy to have my ear talked off... while I talked an ear off... about all things "ear".
Later on, at a different store, I was in the check-out line, which was sort of long for the time of night it was. (I was actually pretty surprised!) There, I got into a great discussion about fallout, and seaweed products being a good choice over potassium iodide pills. The girl behind me in line told me about different ways to prepare kelp noodles, and we both sort of drooled at the thought of nori... with anything. Then the girl bagging my groceries asked if I was on a low-carb sort of thing, and while I guess I am, it has more to do with the dietary stuff I have to deal with so my asthma doesn't go all crazy.
Walking out to my car, I was in a pretty good mood. Everyone has a story, and it's fun to hear them when I have time, and am not in tunnelvisionland with my kids. As I put the groceries into the trunk of my car, I suddenly realized I had forgotten to buy milk, so... back into the store I went!
This time, in the checkout line, the girl in front of me noticed that the cashier was wearing a gingham button, and said: "Wow. You are wearing a gingham button. That's kinda nifty! Ever heard of 'The Gingham Dog And The Calico Cat?'"
He hadn't. But... I had! And... before I knew it, this girl and I were reciting it for him.
Methinks I really needed to get out tonight, even if I didn't get to do the really fun stuff I had planned. And apparently? Fun is in the eye of the beholder. It's everywhere, people! You don't have to look far!
-H
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